Bali: World No. 8 men’s pair – Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik need to produce better results at the 2021 Indonesia Masters (November 16- November 21) and 2021 Indonesia Open (November 23- November 28) in order to qualify for the BWF World Tour Finals (December 1 to December 5).
According to the Badminton World Federation (BWF), only the top eight players/pairs in the BWF World Tour standing of each discipline, with the maximum of two players/pairs from the same member association, are eligible for the BWF World Tour Finals.
Currently, Chia/Soh ranked No. 14 in the BWF World Tour Finals rankings, while their compatriots, Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi are the highest-ranked Malaysian men’s pair at No. 6.
Chia/Soh are expected to face Tokyo Olympics gold medalists – Lee Yang/Wang Chi-Lin of Taiwan in the 2021 Indonesia Masters quarter-finals, and if they could make it to the final, they are very likely to face World No. 1 – Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia.
They have played Lee Yang/Wang Chi-Lin three times this year and lost all of their encounters. Even though they have defeated Gideon/Sukamuljo at the Olympics and Sudirman Cup, but they went down to the Indonesian pair at the 2020 Thomas Cup Finals.
“Obviously we need to perform well at these two tournaments in order to break into the top 8 rankings and qualify for the World Tour Finals,” said Chia.
“We have to at least reach quarter-finals at both tournaments, and of course, if possible, we would like to achieve better results than the quarter-finals,” added Chia.
“We have been working hard trying to win our first international title. We were very close to reaching our goal at the French Open by advancing to the semi-finals, and we will continue to work hard,” explained Chia.
Despite holding three match-point advantage, Chia/Soh suffered a melt-down in the French Open semi-final, losing to Ko Sung Hyun/Shin Baek Cheol of Korea 21-14, 10-21, 22-24.
At Indonesia Masters, Chia/Soh will open against Ben Lane/Sean Vendy of England. Wish Chia/Soh the best of luck at both the Indonesia Masters and Indonesia Open.
