Chi Wing wins second title, but has some big shoes to fill

The likes of Lim Chi Wing may have won titles, but they are still far behind world No. 1 Lee Chong Wei.

KUALA LUMPUR: National men’s singles back-up shuttler Lim Chi Wing bagged his second international title at the Bangladesh Open International Challenge.

On Sunday, the 19-year-old Chi Wing defeated Subhankar Dey of India 21-12, 21-17 to add to his Vietnam International Series title, which he won in October.

Malaysia also picked three other titles in Dhaka through Low Juan Shen-Ong Yew Sin (men’s doubles), Yap Rui Chen (women’s singles) and Tan Chee Tean-Shevon Lai Jemie (mixed doubles).

And that marked an end to the national team’s international assignments this year. The national players now have several local tournaments to look forward to this month.

Overall, it has been a roller coaster year for the national shuttlers under the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM).

Youngsters like Chi Wing and a few others have shown improvements but are still a long way from narrowing the gap with world No. 1 Lee Chong Wei.

In fact, BAM’s general manager Kenny Goh acknowledged the lack of reliable players when none of the second stringers won at the Malaysian International Challenge in Kota Kinabalu last month.

“It was the lowest ranked tournament at our own turf but none of our players for the future won any of the events. That is sad. We are still far behind,” said Kenny.

This year, only Chong Wei has won more than one Superseries title. He lifted the Malaysia Open, All-England, India Open and Japan Open.

He is the only player who qualified for the BWF Destination Dubai World Superseries Finals from Dec 17-21 but unfortunately, he is currently serving suspension after testing positive for dope.

Without him, Malaysia could fall into deeper trouble as far as the singles event is concerned as Malaysia have been depending on him for far too long – more than a decade to be exact.

Hope is high that in Chong Wei’s hopefully temporary absence, the men’s doubles department can rise to the occasion.

This year, Goh V Shem-Lim Khim Wah won the Malaysian Open but they are no longer together and hope is now on Tan Wee Kiong-V Shem to keep the flag flying.

They won the Glasgow Commonwealth Games gold medal but have yet to bag their first Superseries title.

A special mention must be given to women’s doubles shuttlers Woon Khe Wei-Vivian Hoo for winning the Glasgow Commonwealth Games and nicking a bronze medal at the Asian Games in Incheon.

Probably, the most outstanding achievement this year was when the men’s team led by Chong Wei made it to the final of the Thomas Cup Finals in New Delhi in May.

There are efforts being put to strengthen the coaching and training departments and hopefully, with the right people in charge, Malaysia can look forward to a better future next year – in both the senior and junior levels.