Tat Meng Wong to step down

Tat Meng Wong has announced his decision to step down as Badminton Scotland’s Head Coach after almost two years at the helm.

During his time in Scotland no fewer than eight members of the current national senior squad have tasted success at international level with the latest being Julie MacPherson and Holly Newall, who claimed their first title together at the Welsh International two weeks ago.

That came just a week after Kirsty Gilmour had retained her Scottish Open women’s singles crown and under Tat Meng’s guidance Gilmour also recovered from a career-threatening injury to win Commonwealth bronze in April as well as European silver last year.

Since starting his role with Badminton Scotland in January 2017 Tat Meng has overseen the transition of various players from junior to senior international level, putting in place a group of talented young athletes which will be the backbone of the senior national squad for years to come.

Under his tutelage players such as MacPherson, Eleanor O’Donnell, Alex Dunn and Adam Hall have emerged as established members of the senior national team with the Grimley twins, who won European Junior silver in September, the latest to make their international debut at senior level along with Ciara Torrance.

With more exciting young players still to come through the ranks, including Adam Pringle and Rachel Andrew, who won mixed doubles bronze at the U17 European Championships last year and helped guide the squad to a bronze medal in the team event, Tat Meng leaves behind him a young squad which has already tasted success but is also bursting with potential.

Badminton Scotland Chief Executive Keith Russell paid tribute to the outgoing Head Coach:

“During his time with Badminton Scotland Tat Meng has successfully overseen the transition of numerous young players into established senior internationalists and has put in place a talented young group of players who will represent Scotland for many years to come.

“Although we will obviously be sorry to see him leave us, this is an exciting time for Scottish badminton and I am focussed on continuing the work that has already been done in developing performance pathways to ensure opportunities are available for badminton players of all ages throughout Scotland.

“On behalf of everyone at Badminton Scotland I would like to thank Tat Meng for his hard work over the last two years and wish him all the best for the future.”

Prior to his time in Scotland Tat Meng coached in both Malaysia and Indonesia, working with players such as Olympic and World silver medallist Lee Chong Wei and World Junior Champion Goh Jin Wei.

He started his role with Badminton Scotland in January 2017 and will return to Asia in January 2019.

For more information contact Peter Dean on 0141 445 1218 or email peter@badmintonscotland.org.uk