The presence of former doubles champ with Peng Soon-Liu Yang raises question

KUALA LUMPUR: The appearance of former number one men doubles shuttler Chew Choon Eng with the nation's professional mixed doubles Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying at the Perodua Malaysia Masters 2019 raised a question whether he would be the permanent coach for the pair.

Choon Eng was on the coach's bench when Peng Soon-Liu Ying beat the French doubles pair of Thom GicquelDelphine Delrue 21-13, 21-14 in the first round at Axiata Arena yesterday.

When met by reporters, Liu Ying said Choon Eng's presence was to assist them who recently had to play without coaching after they left Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) last month.

“Actually we were chaotic without a coach since before the Thailand Masters and for now we are asking for his (Choon Eng) help only. We hope to appoint a permanent coach if we can get a sponsor,” she explained yesterday.

Choon Eng's achievements with partner Chan Chong Ming include a gold medal of the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games and a bronze medal for both 2001 World Championships and the 2002 Busan Asian Games.

Meanwhile, Peng Soon admits that they preferred to have a local coach compared to foreign and hoped it could be resolved quickly before the start of the 2020 Olympic Qualifying Tournament this April.

“He has to be a Malaysian. That is the main consideration because we will be presenting the nation. We hope this issue could be resolved by March since the Olympic qualifying will begin in April. So we hope it would be settled within this two months,” he said.

Meanwhile, the pair who won the mixed doubles silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics will meet China's Lu Kai-Chen Lu in the second round tomorrow.

Peng Soon said the difference of playing as independents would be less pressure when compared to the national main doubles.

“The pressure would still be there, just that in the current situation we advise each other while prior to this, the coach would advise us,” said Peng Soon.