New men’s doubles pairs to be tested in two European meets

KUALA LUMPUR: National doubles head coach Cheah Soon Kit hopes that Malaysia’s two new doubles combinations will come through the early tests ahead of an important year in 2018.

Soon Kit’s decision to split up 2016 Rio Olympic silver medallists Goh V Shem and Tan Wee Kiong and teaming them up with different partners was unanimously endorsed by the Badminton Association of Malaysia ( BAM) coaching and training committee ( C&T) yesterday.

V Shem will now pair up with Teo Ee Yi while Wee Kiong will combine with Ong Yew Sin.

Ee Yi-Yew Sin are Malaysia’s second-ranked pair.

The new pairs have been entered for the French Open in Paris from Oct 24-29 and the Bitburger Open in Saarbrucken, Germany, from Oct 30-Nov 5.

Soon Kit said there was no time to lose in establishing the top men’s pairs for the country.

There are several important tournaments next year – Commonwealth Games in Australia’s Gold Coast (April), Thomas Cup Finals in Bang- kok (May), World Championships in Nanjing (July) and Asian Games in Jakarta (August).

“We didn’t have much options. The best was to split up the top pair and team them up with the second best pair.

“It’s the best option as one is strong at the front and the other at the back. I believe that they will complement one another.

“We’re testing them in the two Opens. Hopefully, they’ll click quickly.

“The other pairs are still young and have time to build themselves up,” said Soon Kit referring to Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani and Low Juan Shen-Chooi Kah Ming.

He said he has no plans to revive the V Shem-Wee Kiong combination.

“There’s no point dwelling on the past. That’s settled. I’d like to move forward with what we have now.

“There’s no time to waste as we have a few important tournaments next year.

“I want to build top 10 pairs. It’s time to work even harder,” said Soon Kit, who will be assisted by national coach Jeremy Gan.