KUALA LUMPUR: Former internationals Cheah Soon Kit or Yap Kim Hock may be a good option for the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) to replace Paulus Firman as the national doubles coach.
Paulus, who quit the national team due to family problems, will leave for Indonesia by the end of this month.
Without him, Pang Cheh Chang is the only coach left to man a total of 24 doubles players, including the recent recruits from the Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS) who have completed their Form Five studies. 
On Friday, BAM secretary Ng Chin Chai said that they would have to find a replacement soon and the coaching and training committee is tasked with identifying the candidate.
“Paulus sent his resignation letter last week. The men’s doubles department is currently huge as we have also taken in players from the BJSS. I am sure we will find a replacement,” said Chin Chai.
However, with a huge group of men’s doubles pairs under their care, one additional men’s doubles coach may not be sufficient. Ideally, there should be one coach for every three pairs.
For the record, the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games silver medallists Soon Kit-Kim Hock had worked with BAM as coaches before and they have enough experience to run the show again.
