His smash shattered shuttles. His life, as champion, coach and quiet giant, left an impact that still echoes through Malaysian sport.
It was badminton in a single, brutal syllable. The noise stopped play. It altered rallies.
Opponents glanced at the scoreboard as if the numbers might be lying.
Yee Khan was power and timing. At six feet, he dominated the backcourt. He hit flat. He hit hard. He hit with a timing that turned sheer force into an art form.
Occasionally a shuttle burst on impact. Once that happened, the match felt over.
Yee Khan died yesterday at the age of 86. For the past two years, he had lived in an assisted-living home in Ipoh as his health gradually deteriorated.
A perfect partnership
He had an indispensable partner. Ng Boon Bee was compact, explosive at the net, and light on his feet.
Yee Khan covered the baseline. Boon Bee owned the front.
Their court geometry was perfect. One attacked from deep. One finished at the net. Opponents had to beat two players at once.
Between 1960 and 1969 they collected about 20 international titles. They won the All-England in 1965 and 1966, and the Asian Games gold in 1962 and 1966.
They rewrote men’s doubles for a generation. Their brand was power, tempo and ruthless coverage.
They grew up close, houses 200 metres apart in Ipoh. They studied at St Michael’s and worked together as National Electricity Board meter readers.
The partnership began in neighbourhood courts and peaked on the world stage.
Jakarta 1967
The 1967 Thomas Cup final was not merely a test of skill. It was theatre, a menace, and became a national drama.
Malaysia faced Indonesia in Jakarta where the stadium was volatile. Spectators shone lights into the eyes of Malaysian players.
The crowd’s hostility rose to danger. Play was halted during the Yee Khan–Boon Bee match. Officials, fearing for the players’ safety, abandoned the contest.
The Malaysian squad fled the stadium under escort. They left in darkness as rumours and threats followed them to the hotel.
No one slept. At 3am they were told to prepare again. Instead they were put on a flight home.
The tournament’s later arc — offers to resume play in New Zealand, Indonesia’s refusal, and Malaysia’s eventual claim of the Cup — reads like a thriller.
The result: Malaysia held the world men’s team trophy. The manner in which they won only deepened the achievement.
It was victory under pressure. It was pride reclaimed.
Yee Khan and Boon Bee were central. In the finals they embodied the team’s temperament: calm, forceful, precise.
A dominant first set could end a contest. A stubborn defence could save one. Their style was simple and terrifying: a Boon Bee net kill here, a Yee Khan smash there. Opponents rarely recovered.
Those matches also revealed the human cost. The team were amateurs with day jobs. They trained in spare hours and took leave to represent the country.
Yet they stood tall against hostile crowds and returned home as champions.
Yew Cheng Hoe, a teammate and close friend, described Yee Khan as “one of the greatest players in the country and the world during his time”, calling his partnership with Boon Bee “formidable”.
Cheng Hoe recalled that the only time he faced Yee Khan and Boon Bee in competition was at the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica.
He partnered Tan Aik Huang to defeat them in the men’s doubles final, 15–14, 15–5, to clinch the gold medal.
Badminton made its Commonwealth Games debut in Kingston, where Cheng Hoe also won the silver medal after losing to Aik Huang in the men’s singles final.
After the smash
Injuries shortened the peak. Back problems and a severe collapse at the 1969 SEAP Games forced early withdrawal.
Yee Khan retired from top competition in 1970. He did not fade.
Nine months after retiring, he won the Malaysian Open Amateur Golf title and later turned pro.
Yee Khan coached national badminton players and mentored young talent. Players progressed.
He built discipline, demanded fitness, and he could be exacting and blunt. He was also effective.
Off court, he returned to the sea. He ran his family’s Sea View Hotel in Pangkor for more than 40 years.
Guests found a host who fished and cooked. He fed sailors after regattas, and swapped racquet tales for recipes and off-beat stories.
The man who once smashed shuttles now filleted fish and stirred pots for friends and visitors.
Yee Khan’s coaching career, in which he urged standards over spectacle, left traces too. Some of his players later became household names.
He believed local talent could be nurtured, not imported. He argued for homegrown coaches and discipline, pushing a generation forward.
Placed at the centre
In 2023, at Istana Negara, a photograph captured public memory. The then Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah gently steered Yee Khan into the centre of a group photo.
The image is modest but iconic. It shows a champion placed forward by a sovereign. It shows gratitude made visible.
The shot reads like closure, a life of loud smashes, quiet kindness, and national recognition.
For Yee Khan the picture was not triumph. It was dignity returned.
Farewell, friend
Cheng Hoe said: “I am sad to lose a friend of 60 years, and my sympathy goes out to his family.”
The line carries more than grief. It carries history. It carries the memory of dressing rooms, midnight flights, and a shared pride.
Cheng Hoe, 82, remembers Yee Khan’s steady humour, his readiness to help teammates, and his calm in crisis. Those memories are now part of the legacy.
As members of the 1967 side thin, the era slides into history. Boon Bee died in 2023. Aik Huang, Teh Kew San, Billy Ng and Cheng Hoe remain.
Each passing tightens the narrative of courage and amateur devotion that defined them.
Yee Khan’s life offers a tidy lesson. Greatness can be proven in force. But it is sealed by steadiness.
He was a smash that broke shuttles. He was also a man who cooked for strangers, who taught, who returned to the sea. He played with ferocity and lived with warmth. - FMT
The wake for Yee Khan will be held today from noon until 10pm at the Vcare Memorial Centre in Ipoh. Final rites will be at 10am on Wednesday at the Papan Memorial Park Crematorium.
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