KUALA LUMPUR: Indonesian badminton legend Marcus Fernaldi Gideon has named Malaysia's Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik as one of his main picks for the Paris Olympics men's doubles gold,
Besides Aaron-Wooi Yik, Marcus also sees Indonesia's world No. 6 Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Rian Ardianto as the other golden prospects.
"Of course, I support Fajar-Rian but I also believe that Aaron-Wooi Yik have a chance.
"Especially with Rexy Mainaky (national coaching director) alongside them. Rexy's presence in big tournaments usually brings luck," said Marcus when met at an exhibition match with former national player Tan Boon Heong and independent shuttler Ong Yew Sin in Kepong here yesterday.
Marcus and his partner, Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, were formerly ranked world No 1, and won a total of 29 World Tour titles.
Marcus said though Aaron-Wooi Yik are ranked only world No. 5 (not in the top four), this could work in their favour at the Olympics.
"Our situation (Marcus-Kevin) with Aaron-Wooi Yik is different. We were the world No. 1 and wherever we competed, everyone had high expectations of us to win. That made it very difficult for us to bring out our best game at the time."
At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Marcus-Kevin were at their peak, but crumbled under the pressure of expectations, losing in the quarter-finals to Aaron-Wooi Yik who went on to win a bronze.
"Aaron-Wooi Yik have pressure too, but not as much as we were facing. I believe they can enjoy their game which will be an important factor to display their best performance at the Olympics," he said.