LONDON: If missing out on qualifying for the Paris Olympics is not bad enough, independent men's doubles players Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi are set to be dropped from the Road to Gold (RTG) programme.
While there is no confirmation on when the RTG committee will meet next, Yew Sin-Ee Yi are expected to lose the top-up benefits, which include the RM3,000 monthly allowance, tournament and training expenditure.
The door to the Paris Olympics and the RTG was shut on Yew Sin-Ee Yi when they crashed out in the opening round of the All England on Tuesday.
World No. 12 Yew Sin-Ee Yi squandered four match points as they went on to lose the tie 15-21, 23-21, 21-14 to China's Liu Yu Chen-Ou Xuan Yi.
Even with three more tournaments to compete in before the one-year Olympic qualifying period ends next month, Yew Sin-Ee Yi will not be able to accumulate enough points to break into the Race to Paris top eight standings.
For doubles, a country is allowed a maximum of two pairs at the Olympics, provided they finish within the top eight bracket on the RTP standings at the end of the qualifying window.
With Yew Sin-Ee Yi now out of the race, former world champions Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik will be Malaysia's sole representatives in the men's doubles event in Paris.
For the record, since the RTG was introduced and approved last year, the Youth and Sports Ministry has spent more than RM1 million ringgit on professional badminton players.
Previously, independent mixed doubles duo Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai and Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing were also part of the programme, but were dropped when they no longer met the criteria or stood a chance to qualify for the Paris Games.
The current shuttlers, apart from Yew Sin-Ee Yi, remaining in the programme are national men's singles player Ng Tze Yong, Aaron-Wooi Yik, women's doubles Pearly Tan-M.Thinaah and mixed doubles duo Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei.
Divers Pandelela Rinong and Nur Dhabitah Sabri were axed from the RTG programme last month after they, too, failed to make the cut for the Olympics.