Costly call: Wrong strategy doomed Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik in China Open final, says coach

KUALA LUMPUR, July 28 — National men’s doubles shuttlers Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik lost in the final of the 2025 China Open Badminton Championships yesterday because they adopted the wrong strategy.

This is the opinion of national men’s doubles head coach Herry Iman Pierngadi after watching Aaron-Wooi Yik go down 15-21, 14-21 to Indonesia’s Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Shohibul Fikri in the Super 1000 tournament at the Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium in Changzhou.

Herry believes that their early strategic errors opened the door for their opponents to dominate from the outset.

“We need to admit that Fajar-Muhammad Shohibul had a better game plan. We, on the other hand, used the wrong strategy in the first game and were left trailing in their wake. 

“Their ‘no-lift’ play (driving the shuttle flat and at pace) was extremely good in the first game. Their attacking quality, especially in the first game, was excellent… they hardly made any mistakes,” he said when contacted by Bernama.

Herry also admitted that the strong draught at the venue may have affected Aaron-Wooi Yik’s momentum in the final.

The defeat marks a worrying trend Aaron-Wooi Yik, the 2022 world champions and two-time Olympic bronze medallists who have now lost six consecutive Super 1000 finals, inluding the All England (2019, 2024); Thailand Open (2020); China Open (2023); and Indonesia Open (2023).

For their win yesterday, Fajar-Muhammad Shohibul took home USD148,000 (about RM625,000), while runners-up Aaron-Wooi Yik pocketed USD70,000 (about RM296,000). — Bernama