Former world No 1 Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong are going different ways in their badminton career as the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) have decided to split the men’s doubles pair.
Local media reported that BAM technical director Morten Frost has confirmed the pair has been broken up after a spate of poor results which saw them plunge to world No 7 in the latest BWF rankings.
This means last month’s World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland was the pair’s last international outing together where they failed to go beyond the second round – losing to a scratch pair from South Korea – Chung Eeu-seok-Kim Duk-young. Much was expected from the Malaysians, who had a first round bye, in Glasgow.
Splitting the number one pair in the country is also expected to have a domino effect in the men’s doubles department, the Star reported on Saturday.
Frost was quoted as saying that the decision to split V Shem-Wee Kiong was inevitable after a series of discussions with the two players who are also said to be not on “talking terms” which has affected their performance.
Frost and men’s doubles head coach Cheah Soon Kit tried to sort out the mess with the pair but all efforts failed.
“We have worked hard to with V Shem-Wee Kiong to revive their fortunes but it did not work,” the Dane was quoted in the local media.
The duo are expected to be paired with new partners. The names of the new partners are expected to be announced when BAM’s coaching and training committee meets on Sept 18.
The V Shem-Wee Kiong partnership was forged in 2014 – the year the pair won the gold in the men’s doubles and mixed team in the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
The same year the pair helped Malaysia finish runners-up in the Thomas Cup Finals in New Delhi and won the bronze medals in the team and men’s doubles in the Incheon Asian Games.
The year 2016 stands out in their career…winning men’s doubles silver in the Rio Olympics and were champions in the Indian Open Grand Prix Gold, Denmark Open, World Superseries Finals apart from helping Malaysia reach the semi-finals in the Thomas Cup Finals in Kunshan, China.
Their best this year was reaching the quarter-finals in the All-England, India Open and the Singapore Open. – BY RIZAL ABDULLAH
