WITH dark clouds hovering over Malaysia’s political and economic future as the country gears up to celebrate its 65th Merdeka Day tomorrow (Aug 31), top national doubles pair of Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik has probably presented their motherland with the most timely of gift.
Their precious victory over the ‘daddies’ of badminton – Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan – during the weekend in Tokyo has not only ended Malaysia’s 45-year wait for a title at the World Badminton Championships.
More importantly, it conveys a subtle message to errant politicians who after Malaysia’s 65 years of independence still – despicably – question the loyalty of the Chinese and Indians to their country.
On the eve of Merdeka Day amid scarcity of joyous thoughts to rekindle of late, Aaron and Wooi Yik have demonstrated a genuine sense of Pendatang power to silent the numerous instances of non-Malay Malaysian citizens being derogatorily referred to as pendatang – even in this new millennium.
Aaron-Wooi Yik’s victory reflects true grit and determination. Breaking their semi-final jinx – having been stopped in six semi-finals this year alone – Aaron and Wooi Yik had toppled India’s No. 1 pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty 20-22, 21-18, 21-16 before dumping Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan in straight sets 21-19, 21-14 in the final.
No doubt Aaron and Wooi Yik will each be bestowed with cash incentives of over RM200,000 each after being crowned as the world men’s doubles champions, the fact remains that their victory did not come without sacrifices.
The duo have been forced to pull out of the 2022 Japan Open which begins today (till Sept 4) in view of the injury sustained by Aaron, according to Badminton Association Malaysia (BAM) doubles coaching director Rexy Mainaky.
”Aaron is not feeling comfortable with the condition of his armpit muscle. Even in the final (on Sunday, Aug 28), he did not unleash powerful smashes,” he told Bernama. “So, Aaron does not want to take a risk in the Japan Open and that’s why he made a decision to pull out from the competition.”
Sacrifices aside, Aaron and Wooi Yik’s historic feat can only mean one thing – more intense pressure to come their way in their future endeavours.
“Nothing will be easy in the future, once you have become a champion, everyone will start analysing your game, we have to be more prepared for the challenges from the others especially the rising pairs who are looking to hunt you down,” Aaron told an online media conference yesterday (Aug 29).
“Although we are the world champions now, we must keep our focus and be more prepared for every tournament we participate in.”
At any rate, last weekend’s victory would have raised their confidence by multiple folds while showing to the whole nation how two pendatang warriors battled it out on the badminton court to unite a nation which is getting more divisive for Merdeka 65! – Aug 30, 2022
