Coach Rexy orders national back-up shuttlers to buck up

PETALING JAYA: Some of the senior doubles shuttlers should be embarrassed for being left behind by their juniors, says national coaching director Rexy Mainaky.

And Rexy has called on the back-up shuttlers to step up as the competition among the pairs in the national men’s doubles department continued to heat up.

While Rexy is pleased with the progress shown by young pairs Choong Hon Jian-Mohd Haikal Nazri, Yap Roy King-Wan Arif Wan Junaidi and Aaron Tai-Kang Khai Xing, he believes that others such as Chia Weijie-Liew Xun and Beh Chun Meng-Goh Boon Zhe need to improve to catch up with the rest.

The 17-year-old Aaron and Khai Xing,18, are still eligible to compete in junior tournaments but they have already reached a career high No. 83 in the world rankings recently.

They have overtaken both world No. 84 Wei Jie-Liew Xun and world No. 94 Chun Meng-Boon Zhe in the process.

The junior pair’s rise comes just as Hon Jian-Haikal and Roy King-Arif, who were both only combined last year, moved up to their best rankings of No. 20 and No. 34 respectively.

The other Malaysians currently ranked above Roy King-Arif are senior pairings Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik (No. 5), Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani (No. 13), Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun (No. 16) and independent duo Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi (No. 18).

Rexy did not mince his words.

“It’s good that we have many pairs coming up and are able to compete in higher tier competitions but others must also step up,” said Rexy.

“Honestly, some of our back-up pairs should feel embarrassed that their juniors have overtaken them.

“They should use the fierce competition in the team as motivation to do better.”

Wei Jie, 24 and Liew Xun, 21 were combined at the end of 2022 after the former’s partner, Low Hang Yee left the national team to turn independent.

The pair’s best achievement so far was finishing runners-up twice in the Mongolia International Challenge and Malaysian International Series last year.

Meanwhile, 21-year-olds Chun Meng and Boon Zhe have been playing together since their junior days and captured the National Under-21 title in February and came second best in the 2022 Malaysian International Series.

All four players were also part of the team that won silver in the 2023 Cambodia SEA Games.