Yew Sin-Ee Yi must double effort to make up for lost time

PETALING JAYA: Independent doubles shuttlers Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi are scrambling to get back to form after their training programme was interrupted for two weeks.

World No. 15 Yew Sin-Ee Yi had been without a place to train during the conditional movement control order and that forced them to stay put at home as the number of Covid-19 cases had also escalated over the last two weeks.

But with the greenlight given to train at Sri Petaling under coach Chew Choon Eng, Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) discards Yew Sin and Ee Yi know they have to double the efforts to make up for the lost time.

The duo are in the running to qualify for the World Tour Finals in Bangkok, Thailand, next year. They are ranked seventh, just one rung lower than national No. 1 Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik in the ranking for the Tour Finals.

Only the top eight after the completion of the two Asia legs in Bangkok from Jan 12-17 and Jan 19-24, will get to compete in the Tour Finals.

“Finally, we got to train today after waiting for two weeks. All our sparring partners are also back in training,” said Yew Sin.

One of their main sparring partners are the 2016 Rio Olympic Games silver medallists Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong.

Yew Sin said they have confirmed their entries for the Thailand stints in January.

“Ee Yi and are I definitely taking part in the two Asia legs barring any changes.

“All the top players will be there,” said Yew Sin.

“We can’t afford to lose any more time. Ee Yi and I have to make full use of the next two months to be ready when the season resumes in January.

“We still have a good chance to qualify for the Tour Finals and we don’t want to waste it.”

Yew Sin-Ee Yi had been training with the BAM since June but their short stint with the national team ended after the cancellation of the Thomas Cup Finals in Denmark in October.

They are now back on their own training with several other independent players.