Kien Keat Praises Aaron-Wooi Yik For Extraordinary Fighting Spirit

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 5 (Bernama) -- Impressive performance. Remarkable spirits.

That was how former badminton great Koo Kien Keat described Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik’s come-from-behind win over Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark to retain their Olympic bronze medal in Paris last night.

Kien Keat said he was very impressed with the fighting spirit displayed by Aaron-Wooi Yik, who won 16-21, 22-20, 21-19.

After losing the first game, the Malaysian pair trailed 16-20 before making an amazing comeback to win 22-20.

The rubber game was another nail-biting affair, with Aaron-Wooi Yik, the 2022 world champions, showing incredible determination to beat the world number two pair.

Kien Keat said it was not easy for the Malaysians to be in high spirits as they had lost in the semi-finals a day earlier.

“I really respect them. It was not easy to keep up your spirits in a bronze medal playoff. They adopted the mentality of playing for gold,” he told Bernama today.

He said the Danish pair seemed to have lost their momentum and game plan after losing the second game.

Kien Keat hopes that Aaron-Wooi Yik’s success will motivate Lee Zii Jia in his bronze medal match against India’s Lakshya Sen tonight.

“Keep the spirit up; play like it is for the gold medal,” said Kien Keat, the 2007 All England doubles champion.

Meanwhile, squash legend Datuk Nicol Ann David, in a Facebook post, said Aaron-Wooi Yik gave a courageous and incredible performance to create history for Malaysian sports.

“What a comeback! This is a Malaysian Olympic history of comeback that has never been done before.

“Such a show of true grit and experience to come back from 20-16 down in the second set with 4 match points against them and being courageous to fight till the very end,” said Nicol, the Malaysian deputy chef de mission for the Paris Olympics. 

She said the pair knew what they were capable of, and their experience proved decisive in the match.

-- BERNAMA