TEENAGER GOH SHOWS TEAM-MATES THE WEI IN BANGKOK
Malaysian Jin Wei sets up a date with China’s Bing Jiao
KUALA LUMPUR: When the dust settled, only the pint-sized shuttler Goh Jin Wei was left standing.
On a day her team-mates fell like 10 pins, the 15-year-old Jin Wei showed nerves of steel to beat Japan’s Shiori Saito 21-18, 14-21, 21-18 in a 66-minute girls’ singles quarter-final thriller at the Asian Junior Championships in Bangkok yesterday.
The Penangite, who won a bronze at the Singapore SEA Games last month, will take on top seed He Bing Jiao of China.
The singles win more than made up for her disappointment in the mixed doubles quarter-finals earlier in the day. Jin Wei-Tan Jinn Hwa went down fighting 21-17, 21-16 to second seeds Choi Jong-woo-Kim Hye-jeong of South Korea.
All indications are that a similar disappointment awaits her in the singles semi-final against the 18-year-old Bing Jiao, who came into this tournament with her confidence sky high after winning the Bonny China Masters in April.
Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS) project manager Kwan Yoke Meng, however, is just amazed with Jin Wei’s energy and determination.
“She played four matches today and at least two matches daily in earlier rounds but she persevered ... I just don’t know where she gets all that energy from,” said Yoke Meng.
“She was tired after the mixed doubles. Yet, just hours later, she was back on court fighting for every point (against Saito). She is mentally strong.
“She’ll be up against an experienced top junior player from China, who is three years older than her. It will be tough. But we know what Jin Wei is capable of ... she will fight to the end.”
Although all the others crashed out yesterday, including boys’ singles second seed Cheam June Wei, Yoke Meng declared that he was happy Malaysia did better than last year, when Malaysia had only one representative in the quarter-finals – S. Kisona in the girls’ singles.
“We have one semi-finalist this time ... so, that’s an improvement,” he said.
“June Wei ran out of gas in the third game. He needs to improve his fitness and power. We had a slim chance in the mixed doubles but the shuttlers’ finishing was poor. There’s a lot of work ahead.”
Malaysia have never won the girls’ singles title in the Asian Junior meet.