PETALING JAYA, Dec 20 — The country’s number one men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik hope to strengthen the mental aspects of their game to continue producing consistent performances next season, including at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The former world number one ranked pair who have since dropped to fourth, said next year would be a very challenging period for the pair, especially with the Olympics around the corner.

Aaron said they would need to build on their mental strength as well as their physical fitness to face a challenging road to Paris and be consistent throughout the season.

"Next year is going to be very challenging for us. There’s a lot of targets coming on, so we have to get well prepared for that,” said the 26-year-old Aaron when met at the 2023 Haier Media Engagement ceremony here today.

His partner Wooi Yik when met said they performance throughout this season has shown a marked improvement but admitted that the pair were aware that there was much room for improvement in their pursuit of a gold medal in Paris.

"We can spot our weaknesses and aware of the difference between us and our opponents. Overcoming the weaknesses and building on our strength is vital for next season due to the presence of very good opponents on the tour,” said the 25-year-old Wooi Yik who lives in Kuala Lumpur.

Aaron-Wooi Yik are also aware that there is very little time for the duo to rectify their weaknesses since next season kicks off in about three week’s time with the 2024 Malaysia Open scheduled from Jan 9 to 14 at the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil.

Without revealing their target for the Malaysia Open, Aaron said they would be facing Danish pair Rasmus Kjaer-Frederik Sogaard in their first round encounter and their first outing on home soil after six months.

Aaron-Wooi Yik’s best achievement in the Malaysia Open is making the semifinals in the 2022 edition but failed to get past the second round this year.

Earlier, Aaron-Wooi Yik signed an extension of their contract as Ambassadors for a global electrical appliances company. — Bernama