The Malaysian badminton community has seen a lot of players leaving their national body, the Badminton Association of Malaysia, as it prepares to tighten its rules for early exits in the last few months

With all this going on, another national player leaves the body without any financial penalty; mixed doubles player Hoo Pang Ron left the Badminton Association of Malaysia following the 2026 Badminton Asia Championships. The veteran star escaped the hefty financial penalties recently introduced for early contract exits.

He left right after his appearance at the 2026 Badminton Asia Championships, where he was forced to exit the first round due to an elbow injury. There is no compensation levied on his exit for now, as there are no confirmations about any penalty and no known disputes between him and BAM.

"After one and a half years of observation, we have reviewed Pang Ron's performance. Together with Nova, we decided to split the pair and move Su Yin forward with a new partner, Jimmy Wong," said Rexy Mainaky, in a BAM statement today. “As part of this decision, Pang Ron has been released from the national squad."

The former coach explains that the reason for his exit is that he feels that the pair, Hoo Pang Ron-Cheng Su Yin, is not working well enough, so he decided to split the pair and set Su Yin with a new partner. 

And now the player wants to shift to an independent circuit, continuing to play even outside the national body. Even with his time at BAM, Pang Ron played with many players in the team and also finished as a runner-up at the China Masters in 2024.

Reason Behind Go Pei Kee’s Earlier Exit and Her Situation

Before Pang Ron, women's doubles player Go Pei Kee also left BAM under a similar situation. She stepped away after struggling with her own performance and multiple inconsistencies without any financial penalties. And she refused to come back even after the chairman, Lee Chong Wei, tried to convince her.

Her case is what made BAM prepare stricter rules and tighten its contract. This national association has enforced a rule that the players pay between RM300,000 and RM500,000, depending on their ranking if they decide to leave the body without completing their contract.

Pei Kee is one of the players who benefited the most from the system and left without any consequences, and both the exits of Pang Ron and her mark a significant phase of players moving onto a more individual circuit as stricter rules are levied.

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Written by

Aadhya Nalla

Edited by

Kaamna Dwivedi