MTA hoping to coax Wei Yan out of retirement

KUALA National poomsae exponent Chew Wei Yan is still in demand despite calling it a day last month.

The Malaysian Taekwondo Association (MTA) want Wei Yan to come out of retirement to beef up the team’s chances at the Philippines SEA Games in December.

The 27-year-old Wei Yan from Klang last represented Malaysia at the World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships in Taiwan last November where he won the bronze medal in the men’s Under30 individual event.

MTA technical chairman R. Dhanaraj said Wei Yan, who has represented the national since 2014, was still the country’s top poomsae exponent.

“We’ve talked to national coach Jin Jun-boem (South Korean) to persuade Wei Yan to come back as he can still compete in one more SEA Games,” said Dhanaraj.

Wei Yan, who has a degree in electrical engineering, made his debut at the Singapore SEA Games in 2015 by winning a bronze in the team event . Then, he delivered a gold in the individual and silver in team at the 2017 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games.

Wei Yan showed his potential by bagging the gold medal in the Korean Open last year July. In his debut in the Indonesia Asian Games, he lost in the quarter-final to eventual champion Kang Min-sung of South Korea last August.

Meanwhile, Dhanaraj added that another national poomsae exponent Yong Jin Kun would not be available for training as he would be leaving for Sydney for a fourmonth student exchange programme.

“Jin Kun won silver in the team event at the KL SEA Games and will only start his intensive training once he returns from Sydney,” said Dhanaraj.

MTA will host the national championships at the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) Hall from Feb 23-24 to identify their team for the Philippines Games.

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