Happy family: Teo Ee Yi with his wife Sophia and son Arthur.
PETALING JAYA: Becoming a father has given independent men’s doubles shuttler Teo Ee Yi extra motivation to achieve better results this year with Ong Yew Sin.
Ee Yi and his wife Sophia welcomed their first child, Arthur, into the family while the former was playing in the French Open last October.
Since becoming a father, Ee Yi has performed well with Yew Sin – finishing runners-up in the Australian Open in November and reaching the semi-finals of the World Tour Finals last month.
“Being a father is an extra motivation for me to do well,” said Ee Yi.
“There’s also more responsibility now that I need to provide for my son as well.
“It has not been easy as I have less time to rest.
“I need to wake up three or four times every night but I’m still very grateful to be a father,” said Ee Yi.
Ee Yi and Yew Sin are currently gearing up for a pivotal year with the qualifying period for the 2024 Paris Olympics set to begin in May.
The duo, who are ranked No. 7 in the world, are set to compete with the Badminton Association of Malaysia’s (BAM) Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani (No. 10) for a spot in the Olympics.
Two pairs from the same country can make the cut if both are ranked in the top eight at the end of the one-year qualifying period.
Yew Sin acknowledged that they faced a battle to book their berth in the Olympics.
“It will be tough as Sze Fei-Izzuddin will also be out to qualify,” said Yew Sin.
“But this is a good challenge for both of us and we have to keep performing at a high level,” said Yew Sin.
Yew Sin-Ee Yi are keen to bring their good form at the end of 2022 into their first tournament this year - the Malaysian Open which begins tomorrow at the Axiata Arena.
“In this stadium, our best performance was in the Malaysian Masters in 2019 where we finished runners-up,” said Yew Sin.
“In the Malaysian Open, we have never gone past the quarter-finals, so we hope to do better this time.”
Yew Sin-Ee Yi will open their campaign against China’s world No. 27 Ren Xiangyu-Tan Qiang.
