Cover Seasoned badminton star, Ong Ewe Hock (Photo: Fady Younis)
Seasoned badminton star, Ong Ewe Hock (Photo: Fady Younis)
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Seasoned badminton star and owner of the Serdang Badminton Club Ong Ewe Hock opens up on his views about the importance of supporting late-bloomers
A former Commonwealth Games gold medallist and two-time Malaysia Open champion, Ong Ewe Hock is an experienced badminton veteran. He was once Malaysia’s top men’s singles player and an instrumental member of Malaysia’s Thomas Cup campaigns through the 1990s and 2000s, winning three runner-up medals along the way. He formally retired from badminton in 2004 after a 14-year career of making Malaysia proud, but his passion for the sport remained strong, leading Ong to become a coach and founder of the Serdang Badminton Club.
Now, the 53-year-old has found a new purpose: helping talented players who have been cast aside by the national badminton association find their footing again in the competitive world of professional badminton.
“I was also a late-bloomer. That’s why I understand the late-bloomer situation,” Ong says, adding, “I try to give them another chance to play the game, but what they can achieve still depends solely on them. I can only offer advice and opportunities as they face a challenging journey.”
Read more: Courting Greatness: a retrospective look at Malaysian badminton achievements
His empathy for these athletes stems from personal experience—his own journey in badminton began under extraordinary circumstances. At 13, following his mother’s passing, Ong found himself adrift in his youth. His elder brother, Ong Ewe Chye, arranged for him to join the Badminton Association Malaysia (BAM) training sessions during holidays—not as a selected player, but as a helper.
“I just came in to help with whatever they needed: sparring, picking up shuttlecocks,” Ong recalls. “From there, I learned a lot by watching the others train and picked up the sport.” This humble beginning eventually led to his remarkable career as one of Malaysia’s badminton legends. This profound personal history shapes Ong’s philosophy: “We should give people a chance. After I became a top badminton player, I continued to say we should give the chance to those who really want to play badminton to pursue their goals.”
Above Ong Ewe Hock is a two-time Malaysia Open champion, coach and founder of the Serdang Badminton Club (Photo: Fady Younis)
Ong Ewe Hock is a two-time Malaysia Open champion, coach and founder of the Serdang Badminton Club (Photo: Fady Younis)
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Currently, Ong is coaching several players who were previously dropped by BAM, including 23-year-old Jacky Kok who was one of 13 players dropped from the senior team last October, despite having once been touted as ‘the next Lee Chong Wei’ by former national coach, Datuk Misbun Sidek. Ong has set reasonably high expectations for the young player, hoping to see him break into the world’s top 50 badminton rankings by year’s end.
Ong has helped many shuttlers over the years, including Chua Kim Sheng, Cheam June Wei and Pang Jing Yao. He proudly mentions how he helped Soniia Cheah after she was dropped by BAM, advocating for her sponsorships that ultimately enabled her to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics as the highest ranked women’s singles shuttler. “Although she is not a [conventional] champion, she did become an Olympian,” Ong says, highlighting that success comes in various forms and achievements. “She told me that she wanted to make it to the Olympics, it was always her dream and effort—I just helped her to reach it in whatever way that I could.”
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The shift from being a BAM-supported athlete to an independent professional presents monumental challenges. When players are under BAM’s wing, Ong explains, “They would have had everything provided for them and their only job is to train and to perform.” The contrast is stark for independent players who suddenly must manage everything themselves—from finding sponsors and training venues to arranging tournament travel and accommodation.
“It’s a big change when you’re suddenly independent and have to do everything on your own,” Ong emphasises. “You have to find your own sponsors, your own venue for training and even a sparring partner that can train with you. You can’t train alone.”
Above Young Ong in action at the All England Championships in 1998
Young Ong in action at the All England Championships in 1998
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This abrupt transition demands a complete mindset overhaul. Players who once had management teams handling logistics must now juggle these responsibilities while maintaining a rigorous training schedule—often without the financial cushion to hire managers or coaches.
“Like Lee Zii Jia has a big group supporting him, but it has been costly to be an independent player for sure,” Ong observes, referencing the prominent men’s singles player who left BAM to pursue an independent career in 2022.
Ong’s coaching approach is refreshingly pragmatic. He typically gives players one or two years to demonstrate progress toward realistic goals. Before taking someone under his wing, he assesses their motivations.
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“I will ask them at the start what their aim is,” he explains. “They had the best facilities while they were at Badminton Association Malaysia, they had the best courts, everything was there. But they still couldn’t make it, why?” This introspection is crucial for players to understand their past limitations and set achievable future goals. Ong isn’t interested in coaching those who “just want to play and have fun”—he directs such individuals to pursue other interests instead.
Drawing from his experience at the pinnacle of the sport, Ong imparts wisdom that transcends generations: “There’s no easy way to become a champion. You have to work extra hard, harder than anyone else in the world.” The mathematics of elite sports are unforgiving—countless athletes worldwide train five to six hours daily, but only one can be world champion.
Success, Ong believes, requires not just hard work but smart training and transcending comfort zones. “When I was 15, I knew that I wanted to be world number one,” he reveals, emphasising the importance of early ambition coupled with self-discipline. He warns about the fine line athletes must walk: pushing limits without risking career-ending injuries, recognising genuine exhaustion over self-deception, and understanding when to rest strategically.
“The key to becoming successful is to push your limits,” Ong states firmly. “Good players, a majority of the top players are self-motivated, they know what they want and how to push themselves. Only then will you level-up.”
When discussing Malaysian badminton talent, Ong notes foreign coaches often praise Malaysian players’ exceptional skills and creativity, which he attributes to the country’s multicultural environment.
Despite receiving numerous offers to coach abroad over the years, Ong remains steadfastly Malaysian—so much so that he has declined extended international coaching stints because, as a proud Penangite, he would miss Malaysian food too badly.
Asked for his view on the sport’s current landscape, Ong is gentle in his call to see Malaysia build more of an ecosystem of badminton clubs receiving support. “Other countries have learned to accept players from different clubs, and in doing so there is more diversity and talent.”
Through his coaching and advocacy, Ong is not just giving individual players second chances but modelling an alternative development pathway that could strengthen Malaysian badminton by embracing late bloomers and comeback stories. In a system that often discards talent prematurely, Ong stands as a champion for untapped potential, proving that sometimes the most unexpected journeys lead to extraordinary destinations.
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