Teo Ee Yi paid tribute to departing coach Chin Ee Hui for her crucial role in elevating him and Ong Yew Sin as a top 10 pair, but was disappointed after not awarding her the ideal farewell gift with a title.

“Thank you for guiding us with patience and accepting us for who we are, no matter good or bad. However we regret that we couldn’t win a title for you.

“It is unbelievable that we improved from world No. 15 to No. 8. We are lucky to have you as our coach and you’ve helped us come this far. Thank you for all your sacrifices and guidance throughout the past two years,” posted Teo on his social media.

Chin will be heading to New Zealand next year after taking up an offer to coach one of their sports clubs in Auckland.

Under the former national women’s doubles guidance, Teo-Ong had one of their best runs as a pairing towards the tail end of this year.

The Malaysians reached the semi-finals of the Denmark Open in October, before going one step further to finish runners-up at the Australian Open last month.

Teo-Ong came close to a second consecutive final at the recent World Tour Finals, losing to Indonesia's Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan in the semis.

Teo-Ong’s other notable achievement under Chin was clinching a bronze medal at last year’s World Championships.