Aaron Chia is looking forward to a fresh challenge as he teams up with rising star Aaron Tai for the China Open, with the experienced Malaysian believing the new partnership has the potential to surprise their opponents.
The scratch pairing is part of Malaysia's recent men's doubles reshuffle, with Aaron Chia temporarily partnering the 19 year old while his long-time teammate Soh Wooi Yik sits out the Asian leg of the BWF World Tour. The duo are scheduled to compete together at the China Open, Taiwan Open and Korean Masters.
Aaron has been impressed by Tai's rapid progress this season, particularly after the youngster's strong showing at last week's Japan Open alongside regular partner Kang Khai Xing. The pair reached the quarter-finals after upsetting seventh seeds Chen Boyang and Liu Yi of China before eventually losing to top seeds Kim Won Ho and Seo Seung Jae of South Korea.
Source: Badminton News
"I see Aaron Tai as a very talented player. That's my opinion based on how I see him play," Aaron said.
"It will definitely be interesting when we compete together."
Although the new pairing faces a daunting opening match against India's world No. 4 duo Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, Aaron is not placing expectations on immediate results.
Instead, he views the partnership as an opportunity to experiment and discover whether new combinations can strengthen Malaysia's men's doubles depth ahead of future major tournaments.
"It doesn't really matter who we face. Preparation is the most important thing," Aaron said.
"We don't really know what will happen until we try it. Who knows, maybe having multiple scratch pairs could be stronger? But we have to let things happen and see how they go."
The temporary partnership is expected to continue through the next three tournaments before Aaron Chia links up with Tee Kai Wun for the European leg of the World Tour in October as Malaysia continues to assess its men's doubles combinations.
