Ee Wei-Koong Le eye a medal at world junior meet
PETALING JAYA: Doubles shuttler Toh Ee Wei wants to get it right in her last World Junior Champion_ ships with Pearly Tan Koong Le after missing out on the girls’ doubles medals in the last two editions.
And based on her steely determination shown in recent tournaments, Ee Wei has what it takes to deliver with Koong Le in Markham, Canada, from Nov 5-18.
In fact, the duo have the potential to be Malaysia’s first-ever world junior girls’ doubles champions.
Malaysia have produced world junior champions in all categories – boys’ singles and doubles, girls’ singles and mixed doubles – except for the girls’ doubles since the tour- nament’s inception in 1992.
Ee Wei is hoping to continue her fine form by ending her junior career in style.
She has been on fire in two recent junior tournaments at home by winning both the girls’ doubles and mixed doubles titles in the Malaysia Games (Sukma) in Perak in August and the second leg of the National Under-18 Championships at the Juara Stadium in Bukit Kiara last month.
“This is my third and last world junior meet and I want to win a medal,” said Ee Wei.
Ee Wei and Koong Le reached the fourth round in their last two outings – 2016 in Spain and 2017 in Indonesia.
“Pearly and I train under Amelia (Anscelly, former national doubles shuttler). We’ve improved and hopefully, we’ll not waste our last chance to come good,” she said.
“I’ll also take part in the mixed team event and will play with Chia Wei Jie in the mixed doubles. It’s going to be a busy week but I’ll be ready to give my best in all three events.”
The mixed team competition starts on Monday and will be followed by the individual competitions on Nov 12.
The others in the team are Ng Tze Yong, Aidil Sholeh Ali Sadikin, Choong Hon Jian, Chua Yue Chern, Lwi Sheng Hao, Yap Roy King, Ooi Jhy Dar, Goh Jin Wei and Eoon Qi Xuan.
Meanwhile, Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM)’s development committee chairman David Wee said the Education Ministry have exempted Roy King and Jhy Dar from sitting for their Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) exams, which begin on Nov 13.
“That’s good news. The examination division has verbally agreed to exempt these players for the first few papers. Roy King and Jhy Dar will sit for the remaining papers when they return from Canada,” said David.
In Jakarta last year, Malaysia lost 1-3 to China in the team final. Malaysia’s best performer in the individual competition was Leong Jun Hao, who lost to Thailand’s Kunvalut Vitidsarn in the boys’ singles final.