Andrew Kam who passed away this week, was a Malaysian businessman who had announced in 2012 that anyone who brought back an Olympic badminton gold (read: Lee Chong Wei or doubles legends, Tan Boon Heong-Koo Kien Keat at London ’12), would be rewarded with a 12.5 kg gold bar. He loved the sport of course, like rich patrons do. But he also was in the business of mining gold — for real — in Raub, Pahang, ancient minefields of the yellow precious.
Scooping up an Olympic gold though, has proven elusive for shuttlers of the badminton-mad country.
And though Chong Wei’s misses at the hands of Lin Dan, are legendary, there were enough doubles pairings who could well have taken Malaysia to the pinnacle they so desperately covet.
The search for gold reached a crazy crescendo that thrummed in the background of Malaysia’s men’s doubles Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik’s World Championships campaign at Delhi. Malaysian coaches believe the 2022 World champions should be split to optimise chances of gold at Los Angeles 2028: find each of them a younger partner, fresher legs and put two pairings in contention instead of one. Double the probability. But gold conquests are seldom as simple as an amoeba splitting into two. The whole complexity of the split / don’t split / why split? saga was at play, at Delhi — with speculation swirling akin to the breaking of a band or a celebrity power couple’s decoupling.
They have a World’s gold — in 2022, and finished with a silver at Delhi, that answered none of the questions about what was to be done with Aaron-Soh. There’s coach Herry Iman Pierngadi with his teddy-bear kind eyes and silver-haired wisdom. A bronze at Paris (painful as it was for India), wasn’t enough. It wasn’t going to get the duo the promised 12.5 kg boulder of gold. Malaysia have subsequently witnessed Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei win mixed doubles World title. But as 2028 approaches, the men’s doubles with two of their most dependable shuttlers splitting and shepherding two younger partners, is too irresistible a proposition.
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Then there’s Aaron and Soh, two soft spoken individuals, humble to a fault and nothing like the ninja-assassin’s they become on court. You got the sense they were persuaded initially to split up, urging them to skill-up separately, find their own individual identity and leadership while mentoring juniors.
This was announced a few months back and they played three tournaments apart before combining for the World’s where every mixed zone video of their’s was frame by frame analysed by self-annointed body language experts.
India had their own dodgy shoulders and doubles chemistry and a surprise bronze, besides our monkeys and circus to worry about. So, Aaron-Soh cruised right up to the final and lost to the Chinese.
But the Malaysian storm kept rumbling in the background — it’s roughly on the scale of Indian cricket’s Virat-Rohit saga. But with fewer layers to the intrigue. Malaysian fans don’t want the split, with the same fervour of the unfragmented world that didn’t want Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt to split. Some of it was ridiculous — thought bubbles in memes shipping them like it’s a K Drama, though most of it was a well-meaninged prayer not wanting a friendship to wane and wither, with their march into the finals seen as a validation of why they were best together.
Strong friendship
The two at the heart of this debate, said they could handle the on-court stuff because their friendship was strong. What happened beyond was left to coaches. So even if Soh Wooi Yik has been dropped for Asian Games, Lee Chong Wei brought all parties together and got them to commit to the partnership till LA, not wanting any U-turns later.
While Aaron Chia is a talent-beast, Soh is an able partner with underrated ability to rotate and hold fort, who comes from a Badminton family with his father and uncle having played at top level. There is never a dearth of reasons in a country like Malaysia with dozens of talents in men’s doubles, that could get coaches wondering if a mix ‘n match might work.
But the disruptive effect on the pairing has been a saga given the changes and experiments will continue. Coach Herri is not a cruel, cold man. Nor a puppeteer. Maybe, Aaron and Soh really needed some time apart to figure out their individual games. The 15-point system can alter what works and what doesn’t. The winner of the last two gold medals — Taiwanese Lee Yang and Wang Chi Lin spent plenty of time away from the circuit nursing injuries and barely gunning for the Tour titles. After their World title, maybe Aaron and Soh needed this little disruption to realise how precious the partnership was.
Or maybe, Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik are the compulsive rollercoaster Malaysians like getting on at all times, as they fixate on a player/pair and keep themselves riveted till the Olympics fetch up. Scooping gold is easy for mining-folk. Sport works vastly different. Friendships matter. And that kinda gold is just not found in mining grounds.
Malaysian coaches believe the 2022 World champions should be split to optimise chances of gold at Los Angeles 2028. (Reuters Photo) 
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