KUALA LUMPUR: China have mastered the art of hunting in a pack when it comes to badminton and a similar strategy may bring more success to Malaysia's men's doubles.
National director of coaching Rexy Mainaky had focused on taking this approach during his first stint as the BA of Malaysia (BAM) men's doubles head coach from 2005-2012.
Between 2005 and 2007, Malaysia had Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah, Chang Chong Ming-Chew Choon Eng, Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong, Zakry Latif-Gan Teik Chai and Fairuzizuan Tazari-Lin Woon Fui who were playing with plenty of quality on the international stage.
Kien Keat-Boon Heong had gone on to win the 2006 Doha Asian Games gold and numerous international crowns and were silver medallists at the 2010 World Championships in Paris.
Rexy's second stint with BAM started in 2021 as the doubles coaching director where he had produced Malaysia's first world champions in badminton in Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik in Tokyo two years ago.
Currently, Rexy is happy to see that Malaysia may not have to be overly dependent on World No. 5 Aaron-Wooi Yik as there are five other quality pairs for the first time since the 2005-2007 era, battling for honours starting with the European legs of the world tour next month.
Besides Aaron-Wooi Yik, the other pairs under BAM are Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun (No. 12), Choong Hon Jian-Haikal Nazri (No. 19) and Wan Arif Wan Junaidi-Yap Roy King (No. 32) while the in-form World No. 8 Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin and World No. 18 Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi (No. 18) are independent combinations.
All six pairs will be competing in the Arctic (Oct 8-13) and Denmark (Oct 15-20) Opens which will have a top class field.
Wooi Yik, who was recovering from a fractured toe, has also returned to training this week and should compete in both the European tournaments.
"It's not just Aaron-Wooi Yik, there are five other Malaysian pairs who have good quality.
"Most of the pairs are in a positive mood and in good shape. So, we can expect some good results," said Rexy.
"The competition will be very tough in both tournaments where all the top five pairs will play.
"Wooi Yik is back and we should be able to gauge his level with Aaron in these two tournaments."
It is interesting to note that Aaron- Wooi Yik are the reigning Denmark Open winners, their first world tour title, but the latter's injury means they may not be in their best condition to repeat their last year's exploits in Odense.
Sze Fei-Izzuddin, buoyed by their triumphs at the Japan and China Opens, will be trying to maintain their momentum in both the Arctic and Denmark Opens.
However, the return of Asian Games champions and former World No. 1 Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty of India to the World Tour since the Paris Olympics in August will further intensify the competition.
The top three pairs vying for titles in the two events are World No. 1 Liang Wei Keng-Wang Chang of China, veteran Danes Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen and South Korea's Kang Min Kyuk-Seo Seung Jae (No. 3).
The true test awaits the Malaysian pairs in Europe next month.