Badminton

Finding her Wei back

KUALA LUMPUR: Despite being an independent shuttler, two-time former world junior champion Goh Jin Wei remains Malaysia's best bet for a women's singles challenger at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Recently, several former internationals including current national women's singles coach, James Chua, have come out urging fans to stand behind the Penang shuttler who is slowly making a comeback to top flight badminton.

Jin Wei, once touted as the next big star in Malaysian women's singles, has not been the same player since undergoing colectomy surgery in 2019.

The 23-year-old found it difficult to cope with the national team's strict training regime, which eventually led to her announcing her retirement from the sport in 2021.

However, in January, the 2017 Sea Games champion came out of retirement to play as a professional.

Currently attached to the Sports Affairs Badminton Academy and training under Indonesian Nova Armada, Jin Wei is slowly finding her way back to the top at her own pace.

"I totally understand her (Jin Wei), I had acid reflux too and it is really not easy to deal with this illness.

"Similar to her, I'm on medication and sometimes when acid reflux attacks, you can't do anything but just lie in bed and do nothing. So please give her more support because she is not only battling opponents on court but her condition too.

"Keep going Jin Wei!" James said on his Facebook account.

Former men's singles Sea Games champion Chong Wei Feng, who is now a coach, said: "I think she's better now in terms of training and health. Not like last time when sparring with the national women's singles team, she couldn't even complete 15 minutes of training due to her health."

Since making a comeback this year, Jin Wei has moved up to No 44 on the world ranking, the highest of theMalaysian women's singles, two rungs above national No 1 S. Kisona.

Her best result this season is reaching the final of the Vietnam Open this month, one semi-final and three quarter-finals, including the Commonwealth Games in August.

Jin Wei's next assignment is the Indonesia International Challenge in Malang which starts tomorrow. She will also compete in the Super 100 Indonesia Masters next week, also in Malang.

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