Kuala Lumpur: One day after the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) announced the retirement of World No. 11 women’s doubles player, Chow Mei Kuan from the Malaysian national team, Chow herself posted a statement on Tuesday saying that she’s ending her badminton career after a tremendous 17+ year career.
“Yes, I have resigned as a National Badminton Women Double Player from Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM).
Badminton is a way of life. I was started training at age of 10, about 17 years of badminton life. It ain’t easy to make this decision. But it must be made in order to move on to the next challenge.
First of all, I wanted to say thank you to my family for all the sacrifices you have made, all the support you have given me, all the guidance you gave me when I needed it most and mounding me into the person I have become today. I love you with all my heart and I am proud be to yours.
Besides, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM), Majlis Sukan Negara (MSN) Malaysia, coaches, support staff, teammates and partner for the inspiration, drive and support. In the absence of each and everyone of you, I might not be able to achieve my Olympics dream. I really appreciate and will remember it.
In addition, I am truly grateful for the caring, support and unconditional love from each and everyone of you. I have received tons of warmest messages from yesterday, sorry that I could not be able to reply each and everyone of you. But, it means so much to me in my time of need. Thank you very much.
In a nut shell, I wish everyone of you have a bright and colorful future in which all dreams come true. Bless the world. Let it be a wonderful world with love, peace, joy and happiness.
Stay safe and take care!”
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Chow was a member of the Malaysian national team for more than 10 years, she and the Malaysian junior team had won the World Junior Badminton Mixed Team Championships in 2011. Some of the highlights of her career at the senior level were winning the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games women’s doubles gold medal partnering Vivian Hoo. She and Lee Meng Yean also clinched the bronze medal at the 2019 SEA Games. Both Chow and Lee were also winners of the 2018 Syed Modi International.
At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Chow and Lee couldn’t advance to the knockout stage after losing to the eventual gold medalists – Greysia Polii/Apriyani Rahayu of Indonesia 14-21, 17-21 and lost to World No. 1 pair, Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota of Japan 21-17, 15-21, 8-21 in the group stage. Although they were able to defeat Chloe Birch/Lauren Smith of Great Britain 21-19, 21-16 in their last group match, they only ranked third in the group, and only the top two pairs of any group could advance to the knockout stage.
