BAM shake up men’s doubles for LA2028: Soh Wooi Yik with Man Wei Chong, Aaron Chia partners Aaron Tai in bold reshuffle

KUALA LUMPUR, June 11 — The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) today announced a major reshuffle of the national men’s doubles squad, with several established partnerships split and reconfigured with new partners in a bid to identify the strongest combinations ahead of qualification for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games (LA2028) next year.

Among the most notable changes is Soh Wooi Yik, who will partner Man Wei Chong for the Japan Open scheduled for July.

For the subsequent tournaments — the China Open, Korea Open and Taiwan Open — BAM have also introduced several new pairings involving national players.

Aaron Chia will team up with Aaron Tai, while Tee Kai Wun will partner Yap Roy King.

Meanwhile, Wan Arif Wan Junaidi will join forces with Khang Kai Xing, while the pairing of Wooi Yik and Wei Chong has also been retained for all three tournaments.

For the European tour events scheduled for October, Aaron Chia will be paired with Kai Wun.

Doubles coaching director Rexy Mainaky said the decision was made to strengthen Malaysia’s pursuit of its first-ever Olympic gold medal.

“We hope these scratch pairings will not only produce more strong doubles combinations, but also prepare us for LA2028.

“At LA2028, we are not talking about just winning a medal, but making a breakthrough to secure a gold medal at the Olympics.

“I have discussed this with Herry (men’s doubles head coach Herry Iman Pierngadi) and Datuk Seri Lee Chong Wei, and we must be bold in making partnership changes,” he said in a video shared by BAM today.

Commenting on the selection of the new pairings, Rexy said the combinations were formed based on the specific needs of the respective players.

“When making decisions, we cannot look at just one individual, but rather at how the needs of each player complement one another within the partnership.

“That is among the criteria we considered before forming these pairings,” he said.

However, he added that the newly formed partnerships are likely to evolve further as they remain in the evaluation phase.

“At the initial stage, we cannot expect perfect results immediately. But coaches can assess whether a partnership shows promise for the future,” he said.

At the same time, Rexy said he would not rule out applying a similar approach to the women’s doubles and mixed doubles departments.

“Why not? There have already been discussions with Rosman Razak (women’s doubles head coach) and Nova Widianto (mixed doubles head coach).

“We should not be afraid to make changes because this is not merely an experiment, but a decision based on coaches’ observations of the players’ abilities and compatibility in training and competition,” he said. — Bernama