PETALING JAYA: Go Pei Kee’s withdrawal from the national set-up has left Malaysia’s women’s doubles department with questions to answer, particularly over who will step up as the country’s No. 2 pair behind Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah.
World No. 23 Pei Kee and Teoh Mei Xing were widely regarded as Malaysia’s second strongest women’s doubles option.
The Badminton Association of Malaysia have yet to make an official announcement on Pei Kee’s status although she has shared her intention of leaving on the social media.
Malaysia now have roughly three months before the Uber Cup Finals to identify a partnership capable of shouldering the responsibility in the absence of Pei Kee and Mei Xing.
National doubles coaching director Rexy Mainaky said there were several young players who could potentially fill the void.
“With the progress shown by singles players such as K. Letshanaa and Wong Ling Ching, we hope we can also form another second pair.
“We can try to combine Pei Kee-Mei Xing (if the former decides to stay on), but this is about chemistry.
‘‘It is about bringing two hearts together, not simply whether a player is good or not.
“We still have Carmen Ting-Ong Xin Yee, Low Zi Yu-Noraqilah Maisarah Ramdan and several other pairs behind them. We do not need to focus on them (Pei Kee) if their hearts are no longer in it,” said Rexy.
World No. 25 Carmen-Xin Yee played at the Asia Team Championships in Qingdao recently but struggled to make an impact after losing both of their matches.
They went down to China’s Jia Yifan-Zhang Shuxian in the group stage before suffering another defeat to Korea’s Baek Ha-na-Kim Hye-jeong in the quarter-finals.
In contrast, world junior silver medallists Zi Yu-Noraqilah stole the spotlight by contributing a crucial point for Malaysia with a win over Luo Yi-Wang Tinggea against China.
The national women’s team failed to secure an automatic ticket to the Uber Cup Finals, but they are expected to make the cut for the world team meet from April 23-May 3 in Horsens, Denmark, from April 23-May 3.
