Herry tells BAM back-up pairs to buck up [WATCH]

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia cannot rely solely on Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik, and the BAM back-up pairs have been told to buck up.

Though hailing Aaron-Wooi Yik's effort in reaching the Malaysia Open final on Sunday, national men's doubles head coach Herry IP wants more from other BAM pairs.

Both world No. 5 Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun and world No. 17 Wan Arif Junaidi-Yap Roy King lost in the last eight. World No. 33 Choong Hon Jian-Haikal Nazri fell in the first round.

"It shouldn't always just be Aaron-Wooi Yik. I want Wei Chong-Kai Wun, Arif-Roy King or Hon Jian-Haikal to reach at least the semis, or even better, the final. So that the burden isn't always on Aaron-Wooi Yik," said Herry.

"They need to back each other up so that the burden becomes lighter. Overall, the men's doubles, besides Aaron-Wooi Yik, need to improve."

BAM doubles coaching director Rexy Mainaky acknowledged the big gap between Aaron-Wooi Yik and the rest.

"We cannot just say 'we have many pairs', because we are not like China yet. We have many pairs, but the gap between Aaron-Wooi Yik and the others below them is not close," said Rexy.

Meanwhile, Herry regarded Aaron-Wooi Yik's clash against South Koreans Kim Won Ho-Seo Seung Jae as a classic final. He also highlighted Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's presence at Axiata Arena as the prime minister watched the match and presented medals to the doubles winners.

"It was an ideal final between the world No. 1 and world No. 2 pairs — a worthy match. The prime minister (also) said 'sikit lagi' (a little bit more)," added Herry.

"They maximised their effort. Many spectators said that even though they lost, it was by a small margin.

"Since they became the Badminton Asia champions last year, Aaron-Wooi Yik are almost back to their old form. However, they weren't lucky enough to become champions in Malaysia."