Big blow as V Shem walks out with back injury

COPENHAGEN: Shuttler Goh V Shem’s preparation for the Incheon Asian Games suffered a big blow when he had to walk out of the World Championships with a back problem.

On Wednesday, V Shem’s final stint with Lim Khim Wah ended in tatters when he had to stop play at 11-21, 7-11 against Taiwan’s Lee Sheng-mu-Tsai Chia-hsin in the men’s doubles second round at the Bellarup Super Arena.

V Shem requested for medical help while trailing 3-7 in the second game and the tournament doctor rushed to his aid.

The Malaysian, however, played on until the interval before raising the white flag.

But even before V Shem’s unfortunate incident, a defeat for the Malaysians was inevitable.

Their performance was in a shamble, with hardly any cohesion on court.

The World Championships was the reigning Malaysian Open champions V Shem-Khim Wah’s last tournament together before going separate ways.

At the Asiad, V Shem will partner Tan Wee Kiong. V Shem-Wee Kiong had won the Commonwealth Games gold medal just two weeks ago in Glasgow.

V Shem, who has never shown any signs of the back problem prior to the World Championships, claimed that he had been braving the pain since the quarter-finals of the Glasgow Games.

“I had gone for treatment after that and it was manageable until it acted up again here. I had a slight pain yesterday but, today, I could not keep pace with the stronger Taiwanese pair,” said V Shem.

“It happened before the world meet but I decided to compete anyway. This is my last tournament with Khim Wah and I thought that it would not be a serious problem.

“It is sad to end my partnership with Khim Wah this way. I enjoyed a breakthrough in my partnership with him when we won the Malaysian Open. I wish him well in his new partnership.”

Khim Wah, who will team up with Ow Yao Han after this, was also disappointed.

“I was hoping for some good results in our last partnership but V Shem is injured and there’s nothing much we can do about it,” said Khim Wah.