The women’s doubles players will be put under the charge of Rexy Mainaky until the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) find a replacement for Cheah Soon Kit, who tendered his resignation on Thursday.

BAM general manager Kenny Goh said they accepted Soon Kit’s resignation from the national coaching set-up and the matter will be discussed during the next training and coaching committee meeting, which is likely to take place by the first week of January.

“We will write to the National Sports Council (NSC) and also inform the president Datuk Mohd Nadzmi Salleh on Soon Kit’s resignation.

BAM will either look for a replacement for Soon Kit from their own stable of coaches or source for a foreign coach.

But in the meantime, national head coach Yap Kim Hock said the two senior women’s doubles pairs – Chin Eei Hui-Wong Pei Tty and Fong Chew Yen-Mooi Hing Yau – will train together with the men’s doubles squad under Rexy.

Soon Kit’s contract will end on Dec 31 and he is expected to join the coaching set-up of professional outfit KLRC Berhad, helmed by Datuk Seri Andrew Kam next month.

While a better offer from KLRC may have enticed Soon Kit to leave BAM, his resignation was expected coming since he has expressed his frustration at not been given new players to work with.

Soon Kit’s pleas for BAM to provide him with new players to strengthen the national women’s doubles squad have been ignored, leaving him to depend on Pei Tty-Eei Hui to bring in the results.

Under his guidance for the last five years, the women doubles players have achieved a breakthrough on the international stage.

Soon Kit guided Lim Pek Siah-Ang Li Peng to become the first women’s doubles pair to win the Commonwealth Games gold medal in Manchester in 2002 and he repeated the feat with Eei Hui-Pei Tty in Melbourne last year.

Eei Hui-Pei Tty also bagged the SEA Games gold medal at Manila two years ago and they defeated world number one pair of Zhang Yawen-Wei Yili of China in the first round of the Danish Open in October this year.

Copyright © 2007 The Star.