KUALA LUMPUR: Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik have come a long way since they were paired up in the senior team in November, 2017.
Currently ranked world No. 3, Aaron-Wooi Yik conquered the World Championships in 2022, and recently claimed their second consecutive Olympic bronze medal at the Paris Games, making them one of the most successful men's doubles partnerships in Malaysian badminton history.
After seven fruitful years together, Aaron-Wooi Yik have pledged to stick together for "as long as possible," aiming to emulate the longevity of their idols, Indonesia's Hendra Setiawan and Mohammad Ahsan, who are still thriving in their late 30s.
Wooi Yik revealed that the duo have discussed their future goals and agreed that their best is yet to come. "Aaron and I talked about our partnership... we want it to last as long as possible," said Wooi Yik today.
"We feel that our full potential is yet to be unleashed, and we can go even further."
"Our target is always to reach the top, and we haven't got there yet," he continued.
"Like Hendra-Ahsan, they have won everything, but we're nowhere close yet. While we have won medals in major tournaments, most of them were not gold (except the World Championships). We want to be like Hendra-Ahsan; we have set targets that we want to achieve and we will try to accomplish them."
Aaron, 27, and Wooi Yik, 26, have forged a close-knit friendship that goes back more than a decade, starting when they were rivals in the Under-12 category of the local junior circuit.
They first played as a pair at the 2015 World Junior Championships in Bilbao, Spain, but failed to clear the early rounds. As a result, they were initially paired with different partners in the back-up squad.
When they reunited two years later, they never looked back.
Despite limited success on the World Tour, where they've managed only one victory, at the 2023 Denmark Open despite reaching eight finals, Aaron-Wooi Yik have proven their mettle in major tournaments and multi-sport games.
In addition to their two Olympic bronze medals, Aaron-Wooi Yik won gold at the 2019 SEA Games and bronze at both the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games and 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
They were also instrumental in helping Malaysia claim bronze in the Thomas Cup this year, and in the Sudirman Cup in 2021 and 2023.