Mew Choo splits with Tat Meng to join former coach Misbun
News 3:20 PM
Mew Choo: Felt that she would benefit training under Misbun.KUALA LUMPUR: Top Malaysian woman singles player Wong Mew Choo has left her current coach Wong Tat Meng to train with national singles coach Misbun Sidek.
National head coach Yap Kim Hock confirmed that Mew Choo had returned to train with her former coach at Stadium Juara in Bukit Kiara in preparation for the Uber Cup Finals in Jakarta in May and the Beijing Olympics in August.
Misbun trained Mew Choo when she first entered the national team set-up in 2002 and he helped her end nearly two decades of waiting by winning the women’s singles gold in the Vietnam SEA Games the following year.
Mew Choo trained under Chinese coach Li Mao from 2004. When the coach quit to join South Korea two years later, she was placed under Tat Meng.
While Mew Choo has been training under Misbun since last week, Kim Hock said the request to change coach was only discussed by the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) management yesterday.
“Mew Choo made the request to join Misbun because she felt it would benefit her.
“We will try to accommodate the players’ wishes if it can help them improve their game.
“We want the best for Mew Choo because of her preparations towards the Olympics. We want to see her put up a strong challenge in the Olympics,” said Kim Hock.
He denied there was any bad blood between Mew Choo and Tat Meng following their split after only two years.
“Tat Meng has no problem with the change,” he said.
Tat Meng, who was promoted to the singles coaching set-up after the departure of Li Mao, now has Wong Choong Hann and Yeoh Kay Bin under his charge.
Mew Choo will not be short of sparring partners now that she is back under Misbun’s charge.
Besides current top Malaysian men’s singles player Lee Chong Wei, Misbun also handles five other players – Kuan Beng Hong, Chan Kwong Beng, Lok Chong Chieh, Zairul Hafiz Zainuddin and Syed Akhbar Mustakim.
Former All-England champion Mohd Hafiz Hashim also trains under Misbun but he has expressed his desire to leave to join Kuala Lumpur Racquet Club (KLRC) once he has cleared his personal matters.
Under Tat Meng, Mew Choo’s most memorable achievement was beating the best of the Chinese players en route to lifting the China Open title last year.
It helped her climb to a career high rankings of seventh in the world earlier this year. But she has slipped to ninth after uninspiring displays in the All-England and Swiss Opens last month.
Mew Choo lost to world No. 32 Hwang Hye-youn of South Korea in the quarter-finals of the All-England and was beaten in straight games by former Chinese star Zhou Mi, who plays for Hong Kong, in the second round of the Swiss Open.
Posted by Lucas Liau
on 3:20 PM.
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