Soh Wooi Yik

Soh Wooi Yik (; born 17 February 1998) is a Malaysian badminton player. A world champion, an Asian champion and a double bronze medalist at the Olympic Games, he and his partner Aaron Chia became the first ever world badminton champions from Malaysia after winning the men's doubles title at the 2022 World Championships. Together, they also won a gold medal at the 2019 SEA Games and 2025 Asian Championships, silver medals at the 2026 World Championships, 2022 Asian Championships and 2025 SEA Games, as well as bronze medals at the 2020 and 2024 Summer Olympics, 2022 Commonwealth Games, 2023 World Championships 2022 Asian Games and 2024 Asian Championships. They are also the first Malaysian men’s doubles pair to win consecutive medals at the Olympic Games.

Background Soh was born in Kuala Lumpur. He is the son of former Malaysian badminton player Soh Goon Chup. His maternal uncle Soo Beng Kiang is a former Malaysia badminton player and Olympian and had partnered with Cheah Soon Kit to help Malaysia win the 1992 Thomas Cup.

Career He began playing badminton when he was 4.

2012 Soh reached the final of boys' singles and doubles U-15 events at the 2012 Asian Youth Championships and became the runner-up for both events.

2015 In September, Soh partnered Aaron Chia and reached the final of Malaysia Junior International, finishing as runners-up.

In November, the duo competed at the 2015 World Junior Championships but crashed out in the fourth round. In the same month, Soh partnered Ooi Zi Heng and won gold at the 2015 ASEAN School Games. Based on his improved performance, he was drafted to the national back-up squad at the end of the year where he was coached by Cheah Soon Kit.

2016 In July, Soh and Ooi won the boys' doubles bronze medal at the 2016 Asian Junior Championships after they were defeated by the Chinese pair of Han Chengkai and Zhou Haodong in straight games in the semi-finals.

In November, he won a silver medal in the mixed team event of the 2016 World Junior Championships after being defeated by China in the final. He then suffered injuries and was not able to compete in the individual event, failing to improve his performance from last year. Despite this, he was still drafted into the national team after the tournament.

2017 Soh played for Petaling BC at the beginning of the year. He partnered Chen Tang Jie and reached the finals of Malaysia International in July and Waikato International in August.

In October, Soh was recruited into the national team.

Before the end of the season, Soh reunited with Chia and managed to qualify for the finals of the India International.

In the following month, they got into the final of Malaysia International but lost out narrowly to Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan.

In August, the pair made their debut at the 2018 World Championships where they reached the quarter-finals before losing out to Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen.

In November, they reached the final of SaarLorLux Open but went down to Marcus Ellis and Chris Langridge in three games.

2019–2020: All England runner-up & SEA Games gold In March 2019, Soh and Chia participated in the All England Open where they emerged as a surprise finalist. The pair settled for second best after losing to Ahsan and Setiawan in the final. In December 2019, he helped the Malaysian team to win a silver medal in the men's team event at the 2019 SEA Games. He and Chia then took part in the men's doubles event and went on to win the gold, beating Bodin Isara and Maneepong Jongjit in the final.

2021: First Olympic bronze In January, Soh and Chia reached their third BWF World Tour final at the Thailand Open and finished as the runner-ups.

In late July, the duo made their debut appearance in the men's doubles event at the 2020 Summer Olympics. The duo prevailed against Ahsan and Setiawan 17–21, 21–17, 21–14 in the bronze medal playoff, winning bronze for Malaysia.

2022: First world title for Malaysia Soh was part of the Malaysian men's team that won gold at the 2022 Asia Team Championships in February.

In late April, he and Chia entered the 2022 Asian Championships final but were bested by Indonesians Pramudya Kusumawardana and Yeremia Rambitan. He also won a bronze medal in the men's doubles event with Chia, ending his debut campaign with two medals. and Indonesia Open in June. Soh also helped the Malaysian team win a second consecutive bronze medal at the 2023 Sudirman Cup in May.

In August, Soh and Chia were unable to defend their title at the 2023 World Championships. They settled for the bronze medal after losing to the eventual champions, Kang Min-hyuk and Seo Seung-jae, in the semi-finals.

In October, the pair concluded their debut campaign at the 2022 Asian Games with a bronze medal finish in the men's doubles event.

2024: Second All England runner-up finish & second Olympic bronze In February, Soh won his second silver medal as a part of Malaysia's men's team at the 2024 Asia Team Championships.

In March, he and Chia participated in the All England Open and brought home the silver medals again after surprisingly doing so five years ago in 2019. They lost to Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto of Indonesia after going down with the score of 16–21, 16–21.

In the following month, the pair lost in the semi-finals of the 2024 Asian Championships, securing them a bronze medal. In the bronze medal match, he and Chia retained their Olympic bronze medals, defeating Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark in three tight games, 16–21, 22–20, 21–19.

2025: Asian Championships title Soh with his normal partner, Chia started the tour with good starting point, reaching semifinals in the India Open. The next week, they repeated the same feat in Indonesia Masters, beaten by their compatriots, Man Wei Chong and Tee Kai Wun who did go on to win the whole tournament. Although no success in the first three months, Soh and Chia won their first Asian Championships in April, defeating Chen Boyang and Liu Yi of China in their opponent homeground.

In May, Soh and Chia maintained their momentum by snatching their first title of the year in Thailand Open in grueling three sets. Soh and Chia made the final of Malaysia Masters but for the second time in a year, lost out to Man and Tee in an all-Malaysian finals bout. On the next week, Soh and Chia surging through their good form and making the final for three straight competition, this time winning the Singapore Open. Soh and Chia the reached China Open final in July but lost to the Indonesian makeshift pair of Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Shohibul Fikri, thus continuing their droughts of gaining the Super 1000 titles after failing in their sixth attempts.

Soh and Chia reached the next final at Arctic Open in October but they are defeated by Ben Lane and Sean Vendy. In December, he won two silver medals in the SEA Games in Thailand. He and his partner, Chia, helps the team reached the final, but they were beaten by Sabar Karyaman Gutama and Muhammad Reza Pahlevi Isfahani where the team lost 0–3 in the finals tie against Indonesia. Their pace in the individual men's doubles also stopped by Gutama and Isfahani in the final in straight game.

2026 Soh and Chia were on the good form at the beginning of the year as the became the first Malaysian pair to advance to the Malaysia Open final in 12 years since Goh V Shem and Lim Khim Wah won it back in 2014. Unfortunately their luck ran out in the final as they were dispatched by the number one pair at that moment, Kim Won-ho and Seo Seung-jae in a nail-biting three games. Their next final of the year would be at the All England Open where Soh and Chia once again lost out against Kim and Seo in another three games match.

In August, BAM shuffled up the existing pair to seek for the best pairings where in the Korea Masters, he would play alongside Man Wei Chong. This pairing gave a positive result when they managed to reach the final of that tournament, where they lost against another shuffle pair of Tee Kai Wun and Yap Roy King.

Awards

Honours Federal Territory (Malaysia) : Officer of the Order of the Territorial Crown (KMW) (2022)

Achievements

Olympic Games Men's doubles

Commonwealth Games Men's doubles Year Venue Partner Opponent Score Result Ref

is a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). The BWF World Tour is divided into levels of World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300, and the BWF Tour Super 100.

Men's doubles Year Tournament Level Partner Opponent Score Result Ref

Players Chen Boyang & Liu Yi 4 3 1 +2 He Jiting & Tan Qiang 2 0 2 –2 Li Junhui & Liu Yuchen 6 0 6 –6 Liang Weikeng & Wang Chang 12 3 9 –6 Liu Cheng & Zhang Nan 2 2 0 +2 Liu Yuchen & Ou Xuanyi 8 4 4 0 Chen Hung-ling & Wang Chi-lin 1 0 1 –1 Lee Yang & Wang Chi-lin 9 5 4 +1 Kim Astrup & Anders Skaarup Rasmussen 13 9 4 +5 Marcus Ellis & Chris Langridge 3 2 1 +1 Satwiksairaj Rankireddy & Chirag Shetty 17 11 6 +5 Mohammad Ahsan & Hendra Setiawan 13 5 8 –3 Fajar Alfian & Muhammad Rian Ardianto 10 6 4 +2

Players Marcus Fernaldi Gideon & Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo 11 2 9 –7 Takuro Hoki & Yugo Kobayashi 12 3 9 –6 Hiroyuki Endo & Yuta Watanabe 2 0 2 –2 Takeshi Kamura & Keigo Sonoda 2 0 2 –2 Goh V Shem & Tan Wee Kiong 3 2 1 +1 Ong Yew Sin & Teo Ee Yi 10 7 3 +4 Vladimir Ivanov & Ivan Sozonov 1 0 1 –1 Kang Min-hyuk & Seo Seung-jae 5 2 3 –1 Kim Gi-jung & Kim Sa-rang 2 2 0 +2 Kim Won-ho & Seo Seung-jae 2 1 1 0 Ko Sung-hyun & Shin Baek-cheol 1 0 1 –1 Bodin Isara & Maneepong Jongjit 2 1 1 0 Supak Jomkoh & Kittinupong Kedren 3 3 0 +2