KUALA LUMPUR - Top national men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik today received RM125,000 each from the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) as reward for winning the bronze medal at the recently-concluded 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
This is double the amount they received from the national badminton governing body when they also won the bronze at Tokyo 2020.
The windfall comes following a BAM post on Facebook that that the duo, the 2022 world champions, signed a contract yesterday to remain under auspices of BAM until the 2028 Los Angeles Games (LA28).
Aaron said they appreciated the support given by BAM and its president, Tan Sri Mohamad Norza Zakaria, throughout their journey in representing the country.
"I’d like to thank BAM for supporting us all the way and for the reward today. A special thanks to Tan Sri Norza for giving us his full support throughout all our ups and downs.
"He gave us his unconditional support. We appreciate what BAM have done for us. We will still fight for our country,” he told reporters after receiving the reward at Akademi Badminton Malaysia (ABM) here today.
The coaching panel and support staff also received RM60,000 from BAM as an incentive following the success of Aaron-Wooi Yik.
At Paris 2024, world number three Aaron-Wooi Yik defended their Olympic bronze medal by defeating Denmark’s Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen 16-21, 22-20, 21-19. Malaysia earned a second bronze in badminton when men’s singles ace Lee Zii Jia beat India’s Lakshya Sen 13-21, 21-16, 21-11 in the third placing playoff.
Regarding their decision to stay with BAM until LA28, Aaron told Bernama that this was their way of repaying the association for their faith in them.
He added that they would also try to win the Olympic gold medal to repay BAM for all the support they have given them since they began their career as national shuttlers.
"Our thoughts are always with BAM and we hope to bring back the gold medal to pay back BAM for all the support throughout the years. They (BAM) have taken care of us, so (if we can win it), the gold medal will be our way to repay BAM.
"What is also crucial are the facilities available at BAM, such as training hall, gymnasium, support staff, physiotherapy.. everything is there... the full support,” he said. - BERNAMA