[UPDATED] M’sia Open: end of the road for home shuttlers

KUALA LUMPUR – It is the end of the road for Malaysia as their last hope, men’s doubles independent duo Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi, succumbed to the world’s top-ranked Indonesians Fajar Alfian-Rian Ardianto, 14-21, 21-16, 21-17.

Yew Sin-Ee Yi, ranked seventh, were faced with a difficult task to bring down their contenders, whom they have only beaten three times in the past out of their nine meetings, including the World Tour Finals group stage last month.

Having been the only Malaysian representatives after Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik were knocked out of the second round yesterday, Yew Sin-Ee Yi said they thought they had put up a good fight, but it was not enough to lead the game till the end.

“They (Fajar-Rian) were more consistent and patient,” said Yew Sin.

“Our tactics worked in the first set, and we tried again in the following sets, but then they changed their tactics, which caught us off guard.

“Despite our defeat, we are still happy with the game, and we had fun (playing against Fajar-Rian).

“No matter who our opponents are, we are here only to make sure that we give a good fight.”

Meanwhile, Ee Yi added they learnt something new from their new coach, Rosman Razak, who only started training them this month.

“Every coach has different styles of coaching. We just need time to adapt.

“Overall, I believe we played an aggressive match, and we never gave up.

“Please do not be angry with us because we lost. We still want to play in more tournaments,” said Ee Yi.

Rosman was the women’s doubles coach at the Badminton Association of Malaysia in 2018 but left the association after they did not renew his contract at the end of 2020.

He then became the chief coach of the Philippines’ national team. – The Vibes, January 13, 2023