KUALA LUMPUR: In a move that surprised many, doubles shuttler Lee Meng Yean has retired from competitive badminton to move into coaching.
The 27-year-old was unveiled today as among the two new appointments to beef up the Badminton Association of Malaysia backroom set-up along with high performance director Dr Tim Jones.
It was a swift return to BAM for Meng Yean as less than a month ago, she resigned from the national team.
At that time, the signs were pointing to her becoming an independent shuttler.
However, she ended up following in the footsteps of her long-time partner Chow Mei Kuan, who retired after the Tokyo Olympics in August last year.
Meng Yean-Mei Kuan rose to prominence when they bagged the bronze medal at the 2011 Asian Junior Championships in Lucknow, India and the 2012 World Junior Championships in Chiba, Japan.
They spent most of their career in the world top 20 before finally breaking into the top 10 for the first time after reaching the World Tour Finals semi-finals in Bangkok in January last year.
After Mei Kuan's departure, Meng Yean teamed up with Yap Cheng Wen but they failed to make any impact.
Meng Yean is seen as an asset to the national doubles coaching team as she could also act as a quality sparring partner for her former teammates.
"Meng Yean was the skipper of the Uber Cup 2020 team and competed in the Tokyo Olympics. The former national shuttler is set to strengthen the coaching department alongside Hoon Thien How," said BAM in a statement today.
As for Dr Tim Jones, it remains to be seen how his appointment would complement the current national team structure which is broken into the singles and doubles departments led by their respective coaching directors, Wong Choong Hann and Rexy Mainaky.
"In his new role, he will be tasked with the strategic performance planning, reinforcing the strong foundations already in place," said BAM.
"This appointment was made to ensure sustained on-court excellence at the international level through a meticulous, strategic approach.
"On the back of the recent Badminton Asia Team Championships success, the association will continue to explore avenues to bolster the technical department to unlock the potential of the determined, young squad at the Akademi Badminton Malaysia."