Tokyo: Malaysia’s doubles coaching director Rexy Mainaky confirmed on Monday that the newly crowned men’s doubles world champions Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik have pulled out of the 2022 Japan Open which will be held in Osaka, from August 30 to September 4, 2022.
“Aaron has a mild muscle strain on his right armpit to shoulder and we don’t want to take the risk,” said Mainaky.
According to the original draw, Chia/Soh were set to face Liu Yuchen/Ou Xuanyi of China in the first round.
As for Chia/Soh, after winning the World Championships, they insisted they are ready to face future challenges as more opponents would start analyzing their games.
“I think in the future, the competition will be more intense because after we became the world champions, everyone will start studying our game and we have to be more prepared in every match,” said Chia.
“Even though we have won the world championships title, we told ourselves that we wanted to create better results in the future. Regardless, we will continue to stay focus and aiming for our next target,” added Chia.
According to Malaysian media, as of Monday, Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik have received a guaranteed cash reward of over RM240,000 (USD $53,452) each, following their historic success at the World Championships in Tokyo. They are expected to receive more rewards from both the government and private sector when they arrive in Malaysia in the next few days.
