KUALA LUMPUR: Men's doubles ace Soh Wooi Yik, who was forced to miss four world tour events after the Paris Olympics with Aaron Chia to due to a toe fracture, is now more eager than ever to win titles on the world tour.
The World No. 5 duo had to miss the Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and China Opens after Wooi Yik suffered a right toe injury during the Olympics semi-final against Liang Wei Keng-Wang Chang of China.
Yet, Aaron-Wooi Yik came back strongly a day later in Paris to claim the bronze medal after overcoming Danish veterans Kim Aatrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen.
Wooi Yik, who resumed training on Sept 18, is in a confident mood ahead of the Arctic (Oct 8-13) and Denmark (Oct 10-15) Opens.
It was at the Denmark Open last year that Aaron-Wooi Yik ended their long wait for a first world tour title.
"I may be coming back from injury, but we are going to the (European) tournaments to win," said Wooi Yik during a 100Plus incentive function in Kuala Lumpur today (Oct 3).
"Winning will help us regain our confidence and get back the performance that we produced during the Paris Olympics.
"We have to see how our condition is in Finland and Denmark but we want to perform to 100 per cent of what we have been doing in training."
Aaron-Wooi Yik, who reached the second round in the Arctic Open last year, had a challenging draw this time.
They face a tricky first round clash against Chen Bo Yang-Liu Yi of China and should be in for a second round tie against England's Ben Lane-Sean Vendy while former world champions Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi of Japan could be their possible quarter-final opponents in Vantaa, Finland.
Nonetheless, the RM150,000 reward from 100Plus (shared by both players) should get them in a smashing mood.
While they still believe they can qualify for the World Tour Finals in Hangzhou (Dec 11-15), Aaron-Wooi Yik need to make big strides to finish in the top eight of the tour ranking.
Aaron said they need to at least reach the quarter-finals in the European tournaments as well as in Japan (Nov 12-17) and China (Nov 19-23) Masters to make it to the World Tour Finals.
Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani (67,760 points) and Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun (60,700) are in fifth and eighth positions while Aaron-Wooi Yik are 16th with 46,440 points.
A country is allowed only two spots per event in the World Tour Finals .