Preparing well: Women’s singles shuttler Goh Jin Wei in action against Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying during the group match of the Uber Cup Finals recently. — IZZRAFIQ ALIAS/The Star
PETALING JAYA: It has been a tough journey towards Olympic qualification for shuttler Goh Jin Wei but she has little time to relax after achieving her dream.
Jin Wei is instead focusing on improving her performances ahead of the Paris showpiece in July.
The 24-year-old, who will be Malaysia’s sole representative in the women’s singles and will be making her debut, is set to face a difficult task in the Olympics against the world’s top players and is keen to be in the best shape possible.
“There’s still so many things I need to improve on ahead of the Olympics,” said Jin Wei.
“I have to work on my focus during the crucial points as well as my speed and endurance.
“It’s a relief for me to qualify for my first Olympics but now I need to prepare well to try to go as far as possible in Paris.”
World No. 32 Jin Wei has been struggling to cope with the intensity of high level competitions since undergoing colectomy surgery back in 2019.
Despite her various challenges, she fought her way back to make the cut for the Olympics by virtue of being the highest ranked Malaysian women’s singles player.
The two-time former world junior champion showed glimpses of her abilities when she gave Taiwan’s 2020 Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Tai Tzu-ying a close fight before going down 19-21, 20-22 in a group match in the Uber Cup Finals in Chengdu earlier this month.
Jin Wei also battled hard before narrowly losing 21-18, 14-21, 19-21 to India’s 2019 world champion P. V. Sindhu in the first round of the Asian Championships in Ningbo, China last month.
Expectations might be low on the former in the OIympics but she is out to put up another spirited showing.
Before that, Jin Wei will compete in the back-to-back Malaysian Masters (May 21-26), Singapore Open (May 28-June 2) and Indonesian Open (June 4-9).
