KUALA LUMPUR: Vivian Hoo, one of Malaysia's greatest women's doubles players, will bid farewell to her decorated badminton career at the Malaysia Open on Jan 7-12, next year.
Vivian will join forces for the last time with Lim Chiew Sien at the Super 1000 tournament at the Axiata Arena.
Vivian, 34, is a two-time Commonwealth Games women's doubles champion, winning gold in Glasgow 2014 with Woon Khe Wei and in the Gold Coast 2018 with Chow Mei Kuan.
She achieved her highest world ranking of No. 9 with Khe Wei in 2015 besides capturing a Sea Games gold in 2013 and an Asian Games bronze in 2014 with the same partner.
Vivian left the BA of Malaysia in 2021 to become an independent shuttler and partnered Chiew Sien on the World Tour.
Aftetr 18 years, the pragmatic Vivian believes retirement is inevitable at her age.
"The 2025 Malaysia Open will be my farewell tournament. I think it's time to move on after having played so long on the international stage," Vivian told Timesport.
"It's not a sad moment as I've been enjoying myself and enjoying the sport that I love for the last two to three years.
"I wish Chiew Sien well and I hope she will have success with a new partner and at the same time, continue doing well in the mixed doubles (with Wong Tien Ci).
"I am planning to set up my own academy after retirement and aim to groom future talents as a coach."
In fact, Vivian has already been on semi-retirement since playing in the Indonesia Open in June.
However, she decided to compete in the Kumamoto Masters on Nov 12-17 and China Masters which concluded in Shenzhen yesterday
This is to ensure that Vivian-Chiew Sien's current ranking of world No. 45 doesn't drop and put them at risk of missing the Malaysia Open.
"I played in the last two tournaments because I was worried our ranking will drop and we can't qualify for next year's Malaysia Open," added Vivian.
"I have already limited myself to competing in tournaments and it's not because of my knee injury which has always been there."
Her brother, Hoo Pang Ron, who finished second in the mixed doubles with Cheng Su Yin at the China Masters, will also be there to cheer Vivian on during her final career outing at the Malaysia Open.