Khim Wah has no regrets quitting BAM despite struggling as a pro

Happier times: Khim Wah (left) with Goh V Shem showing off their medals after winning the Malaysian Open in 2014.

PETALING JAYA: Former international Lim Khim Wah says he has no regrets leaving the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) in 2015 as he saw no future for himself under the national body.

At the age of 26, he turned pro but it failed to resurrect his career.

However, Khim Wah, best known for winning the 2014 Malaysian Open with Goh V Shem, is still swinging his racquet.

Now 32, he has teamed up with Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub (28), with the target of qualifying for the World Championships in Tokyo from Aug 21-28.

They will start their campaign in three back-to-back tournaments in India, starting with the Indian Open in New Delhi tomorrow.

The pair have also signed up for the Syed Modi International in Lucknow (Jan 18-23) and Odisha Open in Cuttack (Jan 25-30).

“Back then, I wasn’t happy with the BAM when they broke up my partnership with V Shem,” recounted Khim Wah before leaving for the Indian capital yesterday.

“And I don’t have any regrets walking out on them. Had I stayed on, there’s no guarantee that the outcome could have turned out different either.

“When I made that decision, I knew what I wanted and the direction I was heading to.”

Azriyn will become Khim Wah’s fourth partner as he had also teamed up with Hoon Thien How, Ong Jian Guo and India’s Kona Tarun.

“The best result of my pro career thus far is finishing runners-up at the Taiwan Grand Prix with Thien How in 2015,” said Khim Wah.

“With Azriyn, we hope to start afresh this year after not competing for more than two years due to the pandemic.

“Coincidentally, we were both looking for partners, so we decided to team up.

“We’ve been training at the same centre (in Seri Petaling) for quite some time now and are eager to prove our worth.

“Our main target is the World Championships. We want to get into the top 40 and give ourselves a shot at making the cut (a country is given a maximum of four pairs),” explained Khim Wah.

“It’s something big for us to play at the World Championships at this point of our career. I played a couple of times with V Shem while Azriyn made one appearance with Arif Latif in 2019. We would like to thank our sponsors Apacs, Ancom Berhad, Sri Tinggi, Xinshenda and Edifier for their support. We will try to justify their faith in us and not let them down," he said.