Peng Soon and Yee See game for the long haul

KUALA LUMPUR: Mixed doubles shuttler Chan Peng Soon sees his partnership with Cheah Yee See as one “for the long haul”.

Senior Peng Soon is pleased with Yee See’s performance although they lost to eventual champions and world No. 8 Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand in the semi-finals of the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games individual competition on Tuesday.

“Any other first-timer would have frozen in a major tournament in front of thousands of fans, but not Yee See. She has grown bolder since the day I first paired up with her,” said Peng Soon.

Peng Soon has partnered Yee See since June, following the absence of regular partner Goh Liu Ying.

Peng Soon-Liu Ying forged a successful partnership – winning the 2016 Rio Olympic silver medal and finishing second at the 2017 AllEngland. Their partnership, however, has been temporarily suspended as Liu Ying is still recuperating from a shoulder surgery in May.

“I’m not sure when Liu Ying will be back or how her condition is. Even if Liu Ying comes back, I’m not sure whether we can get our partnership going again. I’ll leave it to the coaches.

“For now, I’m focused on building my partnership with Yee See. She has the potential and is determined to do well. She needs more exposure, though,” said Peng Soon.

Three back-to-back tournaments have been lined up for Peng Soon-Yee See in the next three weeks. They have been entered for the Vietnam Open, which starts on Tuesday in Ho Chi Minh City.

Peng Soon will then lead Yee See to her first Superseries outing when they compete in the Korean Open in Seoul (Sept 12-17). They will then head to Tokyo for the Japan Open (Sept 19-24).