They mean business: Chia Weijie (left) and Liew Xun at training. — MOHD SHAHRIL ROSLI/The Star
PETALING JAYA: Debutant Chia Weijie aims to justify national men’s doubles coach Tan Bin Shen’s faith in him at the Cambodia SEA Games.
Weijie and his partner Liew Xun will join world No. 78 Beh Chun Meng-Goh Boon Zhe in the men’s doubles competition in Phnom Penh from May 5-17.
World No. 112 Weijie-Liew Xun will feature in both the individual and team events.
Bin Shen had urged the back-up squad to beat higher-ranked pairs in the biennial Games.
Weijie has vowed to go all out to meet the target set by Bin Shen.
“This is my first SEA Games and I believe that it is a very good platform to demonstrate my abilities,” said Weijie.
“I’m grateful that coach has placed his trust in us, and we will do our best to perform.”
Weijie-Liew Xun were only paired together last December after Weijie’s former partner Low Hang Yee left the national squad but they did not get off to a dream start.
Instead, Weijie-Liew Xun have suffered early-round exits in the last three tournaments that they had participated in.
Their best was the semi-final finish in the Estonian Open in January, which was their second tournament together.
Weijie is determined to go to the extra mile to improve on their partnership and be well-prepared for their challenge in Cambodia.
“Our results and performance can be better, so we will train harder to improve on every aspect, especially rotation,” said Weijie.
“So far, our preparations have been going well. We usually start training earlier than the others (5am-10am) and we have been doing that for almost two months,” added Weijie, who has also been working hard to improve his physical condition.
