PETALING JAYA: Shuttler Dania Sofea Zaidi (pic) has always looked up to South Korea’s women’s singles star An Se-young.
Dania is now keen to emulate Se-young’s indomitable spirit as she competes in her maiden World Junior Championships which starts on Monday in Nanchang, China.
“I’ve always looked up to Se-young ever since she made her breakthrough in the world stage,” said Dania.
“Not only do I admire her skills, I also love her spirit and will to win even when she is carrying an injury.
“Mentally, she is so strong and I hope to follow in her footsteps one day. For now, I’m excited to compete in the World Juniors for the first time and I want to go all out to win a medal.”
Dania, who is from Johor, first started playing badminton at the age of five after her father Zaidi Mohamad introduced her to the sport.
“My father was a sepak takraw player but he felt that takraw was not suitable for a girl and brought me to the badminton court instead,” said Dania.
“I grew interested in the sport and joined the Johor state association before I was selected by the Bukit Jalil Sports School this year.”
Dania is known for her versatility as she is able to play in the singles, girls’ doubles and mixed doubles events.
The youngster finished runners-up in the Under-18 National Championships with Sabahan Datu Anif Isaac in the mixed doubles in May.
The pair’s showing earned them a spot in the Asian Junior Championships in Yogyakarta in July where they toppled Thailand’s top seeds Attawut Sreepeaw-Sabrina Sophita en route to reaching the quarter-finals.
In the girls’ doubles, Dania and Low Zi Yu caught the eye when they stunned several seeded pairs to capture gold for Johor in the Malaysia Games (Sukma) in Sarawak last month.
“I feel I can adapt well when I’m asked to play in different events,” said Dania.
“My partnership with Anif is getting better. We gained confidence after our performance in our first Asian Junior meet.
“It was a good experience for us and we hope to do better in the world juniors. As for the girls’ doubles, the Sukma was my first tournament with Zi Yu and we didn’t expect to win gold especially as we were facing senior pairs.
“BAM then called us for a selection trial for the world junior meet and we were picked for the tournament. We want to give our very best,” added Dania.
Zi Yu, who is only 14, is the youngest player in the team this time.
The others selected in the team are Mohd Faiq Masawi, Ayu Fu Sheng, Sng Wei Ming, Kong Zhou Swin (boys’ singles), Ong Xin Yee, Oo Shan Zi, Eng Ler Qi (girls’ singles), Aaron Tai, Kang Khai, Lok Hong Quan, Loh Zi Heng, Tan Zhi Yang (boys’ doubles), Ong Xin Yee, Carmen Ting, Nuraqilah Maisarah Ramdan, Nicole Chau (girls’ doubles) and Nicole Tan, Clarissa San and Wee Yee Tern (mixed doubles).
Zhi Yang, Zi Heng and Nuraqilah will also be playing in the mixed doubles.
The mixed team event will be held first followed by the individual events from Oct 7-13.
Malaysia have been placed in Group C along with Holland, Estonia, Norway and Mongolia.
Only the team that finish first in the group will progress to the quarter-finals.
