Cheah Soon Kit

Datuk Cheah Soon Kit PMW KMN BSD (born 9 January 1968) is a former Malaysian badminton player and coach.[1]

Cheah Soon Kit
Personal information
Country Malaysia
Born (1968-01-09) 9 January 1968
Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
Height1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight73 kg (161 lb)
Years active1986–2000
HandednessRight
Men's doubles
Highest ranking1 (1992)
Cheah Soon Kit
Traditional Chinese謝順吉
Simplified Chinese谢顺吉

Career

Known for his amazing jumping smash, Soon Kit was one of the top doubles stars in the world in his heyday. He won the Olympic silver with Yap Kim Hock in Atlanta 1996.[2] Before combining with Kim Hock, Soon Kit’s sidekick was Soo Beng Kiang and they won numerous international titles, including the 1992 and 1994 World Cup.[3] He was also a vital member of the Malaysian squad that won the Thomas Cup for the first time in 25 years, in a 3-2 victory over Indonesia at the Stadium Negara in 1992.[4]

Coaching

Soon Kit became the national women’s doubles coach from 2001 to 2007.[5] He groomed Wong Pei Tty-Chin Eei Hui into the country’s top pair. Pei Tty-Eei Hui bagged the SEA Games gold in Manila in 2005 to end a 30-year title drought. They also won the gold at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.[6] After becoming the head coach for several minor badminton clubs, Soon Kit rejoined the national set-up in 2016 before heading the men’s doubles department in 2017 and was instrumental in grooming the current Malaysia No.1 Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik. He left the national setup at the end of 2018.[7]

Achievements

Olympic Games

Men's doubles

Year Venue Partner Opponent Score Result
1996 GSU Sports Arena, Atlanta, United States Yap Kim Hock Rexy Mainaky
Ricky Subagja
15–5, 13–15, 12–15 Silver

World Championships

Men's doubles

Year Venue Partner Opponent Score Result
1993 National Indoor Arena, Birmingham, England Soo Beng Kiang Rudy Gunawan
Ricky Subagja
11–15, 3–15 Silver
1995 Malley Sports Centre, Lausanne, Switzerland Yap Kim Hock Rexy Mainaky
Ricky Subagja
8–15, 6–15 Bronze
1997 Scotstoun Centre, Glasgow, Scotland Yap Kim Hock Sigit Budiarto
Candra Wijaya
15–8, 17–18, 7–15 Silver

World Cup

Men's doubles

Year Venue Partner Opponent Score Result
1992 Guangdong Gymnasium, Guangzhou, China Soo Beng Kiang Rexy Mainaky
Ricky Subagja
15–10, 15–11 Gold
1993 Indira Gandhi Arena, New Delhi, India Soo Beng Kiang Rexy Mainaky
Ricky Subagja
9–15, 11–15 Bronze
1994 Phan Dinh Phung Indoor Stadium,

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Soo Beng Kiang Rudy Gunawan
Bambang Suprianto
18–13, 2–15, 17–16 Gold
1995 Istora Senayan, Jakarta, Indonesia Yap Kim Hock Rexy Mainaky
Ricky Subagja
13–18, 9–15 Bronze
1996 Istora Senayan, Jakarta, Indonesia Yap Kim Hock Denny Kantono
Antonius Ariantho
11–15, 15–3, 13–15 Bronze

Asian Games

Men's doubles

Year Venue Partner Opponent Score Result
1994 Tsuru Memorial Gymnasium, Hiroshima, Japan Soo Beng Kiang Rexy Mainaky
Ricky Subagja
10–15, 2–15 Silver

Asian Championships

Men's doubles

Year Venue Partner Opponent Score Result
1991 Cheras Indoor Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Soo Beng Kiang Park Joo-bong
Kim Moon-soo
7–15, 7–15 Bronze
1995 Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium, Beijing, China Yap Kim Hock Huang Zhanzhong
Jiang Xin
7–15, 15–8, 15–7 Gold
1999 Kuala Lumpur Badminton Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Yap Kim Hock Zhang Jun
Zhang Wei
16–17, 8–15 Bronze

Asian Cup

Men's doubles

Year Venue Partner Opponent Score Result
1991 Istora Senayan, Jakarta, Indonesia Soo Beng Kiang Rexy Mainaky
Ricky Subagja
17–16, 15–5 Gold
1994 Beijing Gymnasium, Beijing, China Soo Beng Kiang Rexy Mainaky
Ricky Subagja
8–15, 7–15 Silver
1995 Xinxing Gymnasium, Qingdao, China Yap Kim Hock Huang Zhanzhong
Jiang Xin
10–15, 11–15 Silver

Southeast Asian Games

Men's doubles

Year Venue Partner Opponent Score Result
1991 Camp Crame Gymnasium, Manila, Philippines Soo Beng Kiang Eddy Hartono
Rudy Gunawan
7–15, 3–15 Bronze
1993 Singapore Badminton Hall, Singapore Soo Beng Kiang Rexy Mainaky
Ricky Subagja
15–7, 11–15, 15–7 Gold
1995 Gymnasium 3, 700th Anniversary Sport Complex,
Chiang Mai, Thailand
Yap Kim Hock Rexy Mainaky
Ricky Subagja
15–13, 15–9 Gold

Mixed doubles

Year Venue Partner Opponent Score Result
1989 Stadium Negara, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Tan Sui Hoon Aryono Miranat
Minarti Timur
14–18, 1–15 Bronze

Commonwealth Games

Men's doubles

Year Venue Partner Opponent Score Result
1990 Auckland Badminton Hall, Auckland, New Zealand Rashid Sidek Razif Sidek
Jalani Sidek
8–15, 8–15 Silver
1994 University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada Soo Beng Kiang Simon Archer
Chris Hunt
15–10, 15–9 Gold
1998 Kuala Lumpur Badminton Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Yap Kim Hock Choong Tan Fook
Lee Wan Wah
7–15, 4–15 Silver

IBF World Grand Prix

The World Badminton Grand Prix sanctioned by International Badminton Federation (IBF) from 1983 to 2006.

Men's doubles

Year Tournament Partner Opponent Score Result
1990 World Grand Prix Finals Soo Beng Kiang Rudy Gunawan
Eddy Hartono
6–15, 8–15 Runner-up
1991 Chinese Taipei Open Soo Beng Kiang Jalani Sidek
Razif Sidek
7–15, 5–15 Runner-up
1991 Swedish Open Soo Beng Kiang Jon Holst-Christensen
Thomas Lund
18–14, 15–7 Winner
1991 Thailand Open Soo Beng Kiang Rudy Gunawan
Eddy Hartono
3–15, 11–15 Runner-up
1992 Chinese Taipei Open Soo Beng Kiang Jalani Sidek
Tan Kim Her
15–7, 15–4 Winner
1992 Malaysia Open Soo Beng Kiang Chen Hongyong
Chen Kang
15–12, 15–7 Winner
1992 World Grand Prix Finals Soo Beng Kiang Rexy Mainaky
Ricky Subagja
11–15, 6–15 Runner-up
1993 Chinese Taipei Open Soo Beng Kiang Imay Hendra
Bagus Setiadi
15–3, 15–12 Winner
1993 Malaysia Open Soo Beng Kiang Rexy Mainaky
Ricky Subagja
7–15, 5–15 Runner-up
1993 Dutch Open Soo Beng Kiang Jiang Xin
Yu Qi
15–4, 17–14 Winner
1995 Malaysia Open Yap Kim Hock Pramote Teerawiwatana
Sakrapee Thongsari
15–5, 12–15, 5–15 Runner-up
1995 Thailand Open Yap Kim Hock Huang Zhanzhong
Jiang Xin
9–15, 11–15 Runner-up
1995 World Grand Prix Finals Yap Kim Hock Rudy Gunawan
Bambang Suprianto
13–18, 15–2, 15–12 Winner
1996 Korea Open Yap Kim Hock Rexy Mainaky
Ricky Subagja
5–15, 14–15 Runner-up
1996 All England Open Yap Kim Hock Rexy Mainaky
Ricky Subagja
6–15, 5–15 Runner-up
1996 Malaysia Open Yap Kim Hock Choong Tan Fook
Lee Wan Wah
15–5, 15–3 Winner
1996 US Open Yap Kim Hock Sigit Budiarto
Candra Wijaya
16–18, 10–15 Runner-up
1996 Hong Kong Open Yap Kim Hock Antonius Ariantho
Denny Kantono
6–15, 3–15 Runner-up
1996 World Grand Prix Finals Yap Kim Hock Rexy Mainaky
Ricky Subagja
4–15, 9–15 Runner-up
1997 Korea Open Yap Kim Hock Ha Tae-kwon
Kang Kyung-jin
15–4, 13–15, 5–15 Runner-up
1997 World Grand Prix Finals Yap Kim Hock Sigit Budiarto
Candra Wijaya
15–17, 15–11, 5–15 Runner-up
1998 Japan Open Yap Kim Hock Antonius Ariantho
Denny Kantono
15–9, 15–7 Winner
1998 Dutch Open Choong Tan Fook Peter Axelsson
Pär-Gunnar Jönsson
15–11, 15–9 Winner
1999 Chinese Taipei Open Choong Tan Fook Antonius Ariantho
Denny Kantono
4–15, 17–14, 8–15 Runner-up
1999 Hong Kong Open Yap Kim Hock Sigit Budiarto
Halim Haryanto
15–12, 15–12 Winner
2000 Chinese Taipei Open Yap Kim Hock Tony Gunawan
Candra Wijaya
7–15, 7–15 Runner-up

IBF International

Men's doubles

Year Tournament Partner Opponent Score Result
1992 Canada Open Soo Beng Kiang Ahn Jae-chang
Choi Ji-tae
15–4, 15–4 Winner
1992 US Open Soo Beng Kiang Thomas Lund
Jens Olsson
15–9, 15–11 Winner

Honours

Honours of Malaysia

References

  1. Talkah, Oleh Helmi (10 December 2018). "Kontrak Soon Kit, 3 jurulatih tak disambung". BH Online (in Malay). Retrieved 31 March 2020.
  2. "Switch that turned on the power". The Star. 25 December 2019. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  3. "Badminton: Switch that turned on the power | The Star". www.thestar.com.my. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  4. "The long, memorable road to victory | The Star". www.thestar.com.my. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  5. "Badminton: Soon Kit's the man for BAM to revive doubles fortunes | The Star". www.thestar.com.my. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  6. "Badminton: Soon Kit ready to restore Malaysian badminton to former glory | The Star". www.thestar.com.my. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  7. "Badminton: Kejian the latest to join exodus of coaches from BAM | The Star". www.thestar.com.my. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  8. "Semakan Penerima Darjah Kebesaran, Bintang dan Pingat".
  9. "Seramai 335 terima darjah kebesaran sempena Hari Wilayah". Berita Harian (in Malay). 1 February 2021. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  10. "Rashid, Soon Kit dapat gelaran Datuk". Berita Harian (in Malay). 1 February 2021. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
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