Roy King takes China mission with Tee in his stride

Tee Kai Wun (left) and Yap Roy King.

PETALING JAYA: Frequent partner changes have started to take a toll on national men’s doubles shuttler Yap Roy King.

The 25-year-old is in a state of indifference ahead of his participation in the China Masters starting on Tuesday where he will partner Tee Kai Wun in Shenzen.

"We are not fixed partners, so there is no personal target. We will simply do our best," said Roy King after a training session at the Academy Badminton Malaysia yesterday.

This will be the fourth and final tournament for the duo following first round Open exits in China and Taiwan in July before they emerged champions at the Korean Masters at the beginning of August.

However, Kai Wun was not Roy King’s only partner this month.

At the recently concluded World Championships in India, he was reunited with Wan Arif Wan Junaidi, whom he had partnered since 2023 before the pair reshuffle experiment began.

Unfortunately, Roy King’s scratch pair season does not conclude in China.

"I believe my next scratch partner could be Aaron Tai next, but nothing has been confirmed for now."

In addition to the lethargy from swapping partners, the time crunch between tournaments also has Roy King in a pickle.

"There’s one week left so it's a fight against time. I have to recover and regain strength while training.”

"Kai Wun and I are both fighters on the court. So we’ll give it our all regardless.”

They will take on China's Chen Bo Yang-Liu Yi in the first round in Shenzhen.