Rallying for my friends
Mixed doubles ace chips in to help fellow pros’ training expenses
PETALING JAYA: Mixed doubles ace Chan Peng Soon has a heart of gold.
The 32-year-old has taken up a role as the ‘big brother’ to new independent shuttlers by setting up a fund to cover some of their training expenses during these rough times.
A total of 20% profit from his own company, Chan.Ger through sales of protective and surgical masks and sanitisers via the website, will be channelled towards players like Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie and Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing.
The mixed doubles players are aiming to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics but their journey has been made difficult after they were dropped by Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) last month.
Peng Soon says he understands the players’ predicament, having gone through a similar situation when he turned independent with Goh Liu Ying in 2018.
“All games around the world have been suspended and the Malaysian badminton independent players have been going through a challenging, real-life stress test,” wrote the Rio Olympics silver medallist Peng Soon in his Facebook post.
“With this, Chan.Ger will be contributing 20% of profit from the total sales of the website orders to the Malaysia badminton independent players as training subsidies.
Fans keen to support the independent players can buy the products via http://bit.ly/ YourSupportOurGlory.
“I hope that this group of passionate badminton players can still shine bright in the upcoming tournaments. Malaysia Boleh!”
Peng Soon’s first business venture took off in the middle of last year and it has gone from strength to strength.
From merely selling face masks, Chan.Ger has expanded its product range to sanitisers and disinfectants. They even sold mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival last year.
Besides setting up the fund, Peng Soon and Liu Ying have also welcomed Soon Huat-Shevon and Kian Meng-Pei Jing to train together with them at their training base in Sri Petaling under the tutelage of former national coach Chin Eei Hui.
It’s indeed a selfless act as Soon Huat-Shevon and Kian Meng-Pei Jing are considered as rivals who can threaten Peng Soon and Liu Ying’s hopes of qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics.
All three pairs will be out to improve their rankings in the remaining Olympics qualifiers which will restart at the Swiss Open next week.
Peng Soon-Liu Ying are currently seventh in the Race to Tokyo standings, ahead of Soon HuatShevon (11th) and Kian Meng-Pei Jing (13th) respectively.
A country can only qualify a maximum of two pairs provided both are ranked in the top eight.