French connection
Ee Yi eyes quarter-final spot with new partner V Shem
KUALA LUMPUR: Former world junior doubles champion Teo Ee Yi is eyeing a quarter-final berth with new partner Goh V Shem at the French Open.
The 24-year-old Ee Yi hopes that they can hit the ground running in their first tournament together – in Paris from Oct 24-29.
“I’m excited about this new partnership and I’ll do everything I can to make it work. There’s no time to waste,” said Ee Yi after training with V Shem for the past four days at the Academy Badminton Malaysia (ABM).
Before partnering with V Shem, Ee Yi was ranked 18th in the world with former partner Ong Yew Sin.
The 22-year-old Yew Sin has been teamed up with Tan Wee Kiong.
“Yew Sin and I did well as a pair. We broke into the top 20 in the world in a short period. We won a Grand Prix title in Germany and reached the final of the New Zealand Open recently,” said Ee Yi.
“We could go far if given more time. But we have new partners now and we’re focused on our new missions.”
Ee Yi, who won the 2011 world junior title with Nelson Heg Wei Keat, said that he had a good time bonding with 2016 Olympic silver medallist V Shem over the last few days.
“I’m not that far from him in terms of standard. It’s all about complementing each other. I’m sure we’ll have a better understanding on the court with more practice,” he said.
“V Shem has been encouraging me a lot and I believe we can take this partnership to a higher level. V Shem and I won the Malaysian International Challenge in 2012, but that was a long time ago.
“Many top pairs have confirmed their entries for the French Open. It’s a good platform for us to gauge where we stand now. A top-eight target is a good start.”
The top eight seeds in the French Open are Mathias Boe-Carsten Mogensen (Den), Li Junhui-Liu Yuchen (Chn), Marcus Fernaldi Gideon-Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo (Ina), Keigo Sonoda-Takeshi Kamura (Jpn), Zhang Nan-Liu Cheng (Chn), Mads Conrad-Petersen-Mads Pieler Kolding (Den), Lee-yang-Lee Jhe-huei (Tpe) and Chen Hung-ling-Wang Chi-lin (Tpe).
The French Open draw will be conducted on Oct 3.