KUALA LUMPUR: The national women’s doubles pair of Ng Hui Lin and Woon Khe Wei, who clinched the winning point to win the team gold in Laos after a 34-year drought, have decided to go separate ways.

GOLDEN PAIR: Khe Wei (left) and Hui Lin are still good friends

However, the duo from Selangor, both 21 years old, said they would continue playing for the country in the Uber Cup in Kuala Lumpur in May — with or without each other. In the ongoing Malaysian Open, Hui Lin has younger sister Hui Ern as partner.

The siblings face a scratch Bulgarian/Russian combination in the opening round today, while Khe Wei's other half is Vivian Ho. They will play a Taiwanese pair. Khe Wei and Hui Lin decided to go separate ways as the latter wants to give extra attention to her studies and would not want to jeopardise her partner’s progress in badminton.

“It is not fair to Khe Wei or the other players if I am not able to train with them for most of the time as well as restricting their participating in other tournaments.

“It is different if I'm partnering my sister. It's all in the family, whether we train less or more or play in selected tournaments only,” said Hui Lin.

Despite her zeal for academic excellence, Hui Lin said she wants to be in the Uber Cup.

“It is a dream to play in the Uber Cup. I'll fight for my place in the team. I hope to prove to the selectors that I'm still good enough to be in the team,” said Hui Lin, who played in the 2008 edition in Jakarta.

Meanwhile, Khe Wei respected Hui Lin’s decision to split. The pair defeated Indonesians Lilyana Natsir-Greysia Polli to give Malaysian the unexpected gold medal.

Khe Wei said: “I understand her pursuit for academic excellence but we can never know what lies ahead. I am desperately looking for a regular place in the team as I was only a reserve in Jakarta. I don't wish to be a reserve anymore and look forward to playing. Still I'm not discarding the possibility of partnering Hui Lin again for the Uber Cup.”