Choong Hann to hang up racquet at the end of next year

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SEASONED campaigner Wong Choong Hann realises that he is on the home stretch to sign off his competitive badminton career.

The 34-year-old independent shuttler said he would be completing his fourth season in the German top flight league with EBT, Berlin scheduled for the middle of next year. He would stay on the world circuit for the remaining of the season before bowing out from the international scene at the end of next year.

“I have not been competing after my outing at the World Championships (in August). I will be returning to take part in competitions at the end of the year,” he added.

Choong Hann was the first Malaysian to reach the World Championships men’s singles final before going down to China’s Xia Xuanze at Birmingham in 2003.

Busy juggling commitments: Choong Hann at a training session.

In his eighth appearance at this season’s world meet at the Wembley Arena in London, Choong Hann ended his campaign with a second round defeat — losing to Thailand’s Boonsak Ponsana.

However, it is not going to be an exact closure to Choong Hann’s remarkable career as he has decided to explore other skills related to the fastest racquet sport.

Even after his retirement from the international scene as a player, the determined southpaw from Kuala Lumpur said he would still be sticking to the familiar strokes.

Choong Hann has been making plans to take on other roles in contributing to the local scene.

After leaving the national training camp in 2008, Choong Hann teamed up with three other former national team-mates — Lee Wan Wah, Chan Chong Ming and Chew Choon Eng — to establish the Pioneer Sports Management company.

“At the moment, my life is very complex —juggling my commitments. Initially, it was challenging to adapt to the changes operating the business.

“We know the game very well but we had to learn the ropes of the trade and getting things in proper order from scratch. Now, it is easier because we have almost three years of experience dealing and overcoming tricky situations,” said Choong Hann, who has two children aged three and five.

Following their earlier ventures in getting their two 10-court each centres up and running at Sunsuria Avenue in Kota Damansara and Endah Parade in Sri Petaling, they have forged partnership with business associates to set up the 20-court Tropicana Badminton Academy at Sungai Buloh recently.

Besides badminton, Choong Hann said they were aiming to offer attractive activities for the sports followers.

“We want to create a sports club atmosphere for family outings at our new centre. Besides two futsal courts facilities, we are also considering to include other programmes with the space available here,” he added.

Currently, they have about 100 trainees going through the paces under their badminton training programmes.

“It takes a long period to develop an accomplished player. We are expecting the youngsters to advance to a certain respectable level within two years of regular training. We have a structure but we need to inject fresh ideas constantly to sustain their excitement in improving on their game.

“A small group of players under the care of Chong Ming are showing good progress at various age-group meets. They will be gauging their strength in junior tournaments over the year-end school break,” said Choong Hann.