By RAJES PAUL
PETALING JAYA: Just 12 days after quitting the national team, veteran doubles shuttler Chew Choon Eng has found another route to extending his playing career – by signing a two-year sponsorship deal with sports firm Victor.
On May 30, the 30-year-old Choon Eng ended his 12-year service with the national team after finding himself without a regular partner for the last two years.
Now, under the Victor banner, he will make his maiden appearance with former national discard Hong Chieng Hun in the Malaysian Open, which starts on Wednesday in Kuching.
Choon Eng is happy to get a second shot at prolonging his badminton career.
“I did not have a regular partner for the last two years and I waited patiently for the national coaches to name me a partner. But they found it difficult because the back-up pairs were performing well. So, I decided to leave the squad,” said Choon Eng, whose last assignment under the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) banner was as a reserve at the Thomas Cup Finals in Japan.
Besides the two senior pairs in the national team – Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah and Chan Chong Ming-Koo Kien Keat – the four back-up pairs have showed vast improvement under the tutelage of Rexy Mainaky.
They are Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari-Lin Woon Fui, Gan Teik Chai-Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif, Tan Bin Shen-Ong Soon Hock and Hoon Thien How-Tan Boon Heong.
Choong Eng plans to play on for a few more years becoming a coach with Victor, when the company set up their own academy.
He hopes that his presence will help keep the national players on their toes.
“I am thankful to Victor for giving me this opportunity to continue playing. Chieng Hun and I hope to put pressure on the national players during local tournaments. We will compete in few Open tournaments and try to establish our world rankings first,” said Choong Eng, who had partnered Chieng Hun in local tournaments before.
At the Kedah Open last year, they finished as runners-up and reached the semi-finals of the National Grand Prix Finals two years ago.
In the Malaysian Open, the duo have been drawn to meet joint fifth-eighth seeds Joko Riyadi-Hendra A. Gunawan of Indonesia in the opening round.
Meanwhile, Nanjing Victor Physical Materials general manager Alex Ong said they were happy to take Choon Eng under their wings.
“The two-year sponsorship is worth RM120,000. We will fund all his overseas trips. We will also provide incentives if Choon Eng and his partner do well in Open tournaments,” said Alex.
For the record, Choong Eng's high points in his four-year partnership with Chong Ming were winning the Japan Open in 2002; bagging the gold medal at the Manchester Commonwealth Games in 2002, reaching the 2001 World Championships semi-finals; and upsetting Candra Wijaya-Sigit Budiarto of Indonesia en route to winning a bronze medal at the 2002 Busan Asian Games.(The Star Online)
Source:badmintonplanet.com
PETALING JAYA: Just 12 days after quitting the national team, veteran doubles shuttler Chew Choon Eng has found another route to extending his playing career – by signing a two-year sponsorship deal with sports firm Victor.
On May 30, the 30-year-old Choon Eng ended his 12-year service with the national team after finding himself without a regular partner for the last two years.
Now, under the Victor banner, he will make his maiden appearance with former national discard Hong Chieng Hun in the Malaysian Open, which starts on Wednesday in Kuching.
Choon Eng is happy to get a second shot at prolonging his badminton career.
“I did not have a regular partner for the last two years and I waited patiently for the national coaches to name me a partner. But they found it difficult because the back-up pairs were performing well. So, I decided to leave the squad,” said Choon Eng, whose last assignment under the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) banner was as a reserve at the Thomas Cup Finals in Japan.
Besides the two senior pairs in the national team – Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah and Chan Chong Ming-Koo Kien Keat – the four back-up pairs have showed vast improvement under the tutelage of Rexy Mainaky.
They are Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari-Lin Woon Fui, Gan Teik Chai-Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif, Tan Bin Shen-Ong Soon Hock and Hoon Thien How-Tan Boon Heong.
Choong Eng plans to play on for a few more years becoming a coach with Victor, when the company set up their own academy.
He hopes that his presence will help keep the national players on their toes.
“I am thankful to Victor for giving me this opportunity to continue playing. Chieng Hun and I hope to put pressure on the national players during local tournaments. We will compete in few Open tournaments and try to establish our world rankings first,” said Choong Eng, who had partnered Chieng Hun in local tournaments before.
At the Kedah Open last year, they finished as runners-up and reached the semi-finals of the National Grand Prix Finals two years ago.
In the Malaysian Open, the duo have been drawn to meet joint fifth-eighth seeds Joko Riyadi-Hendra A. Gunawan of Indonesia in the opening round.
Meanwhile, Nanjing Victor Physical Materials general manager Alex Ong said they were happy to take Choon Eng under their wings.
“The two-year sponsorship is worth RM120,000. We will fund all his overseas trips. We will also provide incentives if Choon Eng and his partner do well in Open tournaments,” said Alex.
For the record, Choong Eng's high points in his four-year partnership with Chong Ming were winning the Japan Open in 2002; bagging the gold medal at the Manchester Commonwealth Games in 2002, reaching the 2001 World Championships semi-finals; and upsetting Candra Wijaya-Sigit Budiarto of Indonesia en route to winning a bronze medal at the 2002 Busan Asian Games.(The Star Online)
Source:badmintonplanet.com
