Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian World No. 7 mixed doubles Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying were looking forward to returning to the Academy Badminton Malaysia in mid-July to train together with former teammates at the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM), and were grateful for the opportunity given by BAM.
BAM had recently announced that it will invite professional players who have a high chance of qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics to train with players from BAM twice a week starting July 15th. Independent shuttlers who had successfully qualified for the Olympics were allowed to go back to train with the Malaysian national team full-time.
Chan/Goh currently ranked No. 7 in the BWF Race to Tokyo – Olympic mixed doubles qualification rankings, ahead of compatriots Goh Soon Huat/Shevon Jemie Lai (ranked No. 11) and Tan Kian Meng/Lai Pei Jing (ranked No. 13).
According to the BWF Olympic qualifying rules, a country may enter up to a maximum of 2 pairs in doubles events, provided both pairs were ranked in the top 8.
Speaking to Malaysian media, Chan could not hide his excitement of getting the chance to train with players from BAM.
“Yes, it’s like going home. Of course, we would have a better quality of training at BAM,” said Chan.
“Although it’s only twice a week, we would get good sparring opportunities with Soon Huat/Shevon, Kian Meng/Pei Jing. This would greatly improve our effectiveness in preparing for the Olympic Games. The sparring session would also benefit players from BAM too, so it is a win-win situation,” added Chan.
On the other side, since Chan/Goh left BAM in December 2018, they have not been able to get proper mixed doubles training, therefore, Goh Liu Ying was also looking forward to the mixed doubles training session with her former teammates at BAM.
“Currently, Peng Soon and I can only practice with other independent men’s doubles pairs including V Shem/Wee Kiong, Ee Yi/Yew Sin, however, since they are men’s doubles pairs, the style of play was different compared to mixed doubles. In addition to sparring, we can also utilize some training equipment at the Academy Badminton Malaysia,” said Goh.
After leaving BAM, Chan/Goh have won the 2019 Thailand Masters and the 2019 New Zealand Open.
