KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 6 — Top national men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik will not take part in the Hong Kong Open Badminton Championships 2024 following a fractured right toe injury sustained by Wooi Yik recently.

The unfortunate development was revealed by national men’s doubles coach Tan Bin Shen who said that any decision to send the world number three doubles team back to action would depend on Wooi Yik’s recovery.

However, Bin Shen said the 26-year-old is currently showing positive recovery but he is still unable to undergo intensive training on the court with his partner.

"On Tuesday, he underwent a bone scan which showed he has recovered a lot. His bones are fractured and previously the National Sports Institute (ISN) said he had to wait for new bone growth to recover, and now that the bones have grown (back), he can make gradual leg movements.

"He will not playing in Hong Kong Open, we will wait and see how he feels this week before deciding on whether to go to China Open,” he said.

He was speaking to reporters at the national badminton squad’s training session at the Academy of Badminton Malaysia (ABM) here today.

He added that Wooi Yik’s toe bone fracture occurred during the semi-finals of the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Meanwhile, Bin Shen said he wanted to provide time to Wooi Yik to recover and did not want to rush the Kuala Lumpur-born athlete to return representing the country.

"I want him to recover 100 per cent, even if he is forced, he can’t, he can’t go to a tournament in such a condition, the opponents are strong,” he said.

The 2024 Hong Kong Open Badminton Championships will take place from Sept 10 to 15, while the China Open Badminton Championships 2024 will take place between Sept 17 and 22.

At the recently concluded Paris Olympics, Aaron-Wooi Yik’s journey was derailed in the semi-finals when they lost to the Chinese pair, Liang Wei Keng-Wang Chang 19-21, 21-15, 17-21.

The 2022 world championship pair, however, bounced back to defeat world number two Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark 16-21, 22-20, 21-19 to bring home the bronze medal. — Bernama