PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Masters will be the first and only tournament for Ong Yew Sin and his new partner Lwi Sheng Hao after teaming up for less than a month.
Yesterday, Yew Sin-Sheng Hao bowed out in the first round after losing 13-21, 14-21 to Chen Zhi-ray-Lin Yu-chieh at the Unifi Arena in Bukit Jalil.
Yew Sin revealed that he has no plans to continue partnering Sheng Hao, saying his original intention was simply to help his friend compete on home soil by using his ranking points to enter the tournament.
Sheng Hao is set to partner Boon Xin Yuan after this, while Yew Sin plans to take a short break from international badminton. That, however, does not mean he is thinking about retirement, as he still has no intention of walking away from the sport.
“He (Sheng Hao) asked me for help. He wanted to play in this tournament because his new partner might not get in as they do not have enough ranking points. He asked me because I still had ranking points. I agreed at the last minute because originally I was not really planning to play.
“I have a lot of things to settle, and my training has also been a bit limited. But it is just for this tournament, so I decided to play. As for now, I do not have any plans yet and I have not looked for a new partner. I feel like I want to try something different first.
“I also have a slight injury that is bothering me, so I do not want to rush into finding a new partner when I am not fully ready. I just want to let my body rest for a while,” said Yew Sin.
At the same time, Yew Sin also dismissed speculation that he would compete in mixed doubles with his wife Aya Ohori, as had been rumoured previously. Ohori is a former Japanese women’s singles player who rose to world No. 7 before announcing her retirement in December 2024.
“My wife is no longer playing. She is really done with badminton. We just laugh about it. We saw a lot of those news reports and she also laughed when people said that.
“She is the one who does not want to play, not me. She is afraid we might end up fighting,” added Yew Sin with a laugh.
Yew Sin had previously split with Teo Ee Yi after more than a decade together following a dip in form, with Ee Yi moving on to partner Chia Weijie.
However, the two still train together in the independent set-up under coach Teo Kok Siang.
