KUALA LUMPUR: National doubles coaching director Rexy Mainaky has demanded a swift response from world champions Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik at next week's All England following a disastrous outing at the German Open.
The top-seeded Malaysians were humbled 21-13, 21-18 in the last 16 by Japan's world No 25 Akira Koga-Taichi Saito yesterday, and Rexy made his disappointment clear by labelling the team defeat as "not a good sign".
"As the top seeds, they should have done better. That's not a good sign especially when the All England is coming up next," said Rexy, who did not travel with the team.
"I hope they can stay focused and bounce back from this disappointment next week."
Asked if Aaron-Wooi Yik have succumbed to the pressure to deliver their long-awaited maiden World Tour title, Rexy replied: "I don't know as I'm not there. But from what I've been informed by Hoon (Thien How, coach on duty), Aaron committed many mistakes and his movement on the court was poor."
Based on Aaron-Wooi Yik's post-World Championships tournament records, where they could only make it to the semi-finals or better only twice in seven outings since August last year, that is certainly a cause for concern.
This was in stark contrast to the level of consistency before they were crowned the world champions.
Prior to their historic feat, they reached the final once and were semi-finalists on six other occasions over eight tournament appearances.
"(Their struggle) It puzzled me as well. They have done so well in the training and looked more than ready performance-wise," said Rexy.
"After they won the World Championships, we've been working hard to further improve their mindset."
Aaron-Wooi Yik have found the World Tour breakthrough hard to come by despite reaching the final four times since 2018, including the India Open in January.
The onus is now on them to put the disappointment behind them with a strong showing in Birmingham.
They are one-time runners-up, having lost to Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan in the 2019 final.