KUALA LUMPUR: Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik have set aside their goal of qualifying for the World Tour Finals in December.
The world No. 5 men's doubles pair have been sidelined since the Paris Olympics, with Wooi Yik nursing a fractured foot.
Time is running out for them to collect enough points to make it to the Finals.
Wooi Yik, who is expected to return to light training next week, said the pair had agreed to shift their focus to other achievable goals for the remainder of the season.
"Aaron and I have decided not to chase World Tour Finals qualification. I need to be patient with my recovery," Wooi Yik said at the Academy Badminton Malaysia in Bukit Kiara recently.
"We're aiming to play smaller tournaments to regain our form and collect ranking points.
"We don't have any major targets for the rest of the year and are using this time to prepare for next year."
The pair hope to return at either the Arctic Open in Finland or the Denmark Open next month, where they claimed their first World Tour title last year.
Aaron-Wooi Yik, two-time Olympic bronze medallists, currently sit 11th in the Race to Finals rankings, with only the top eight pairs qualifying for the Finals in Hangzhou.
Malaysia's Choong Hon Jian-Haikal Nazri, Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani and Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun are ranked sixth, seventh, and eighth, respectively.
However, only two pairs from each nation can qualify for the World Tour Finals, which offer a total prize pool of US$2.5 million (RM10.7 million).