With the adrenaline flowing after two major titles added to her cabinet Malaysian badminton sensation Goh Jin Wei is pumped up as she moves into the senior squad on a golden note.
Instead of looking at and being targeted for the 2024 Olympics in Paris the 18-year-old from Penang would instead look at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Jin Wei is the new darling of Malaysian badminton after clinching two “majors” at junior level – the Youth Olympics women’s singles gold and then regaining her singles gold in the World Junior Championships – both in a spate of two months.
The 2015 world junior champion (in Lima, Peru), regained the same title in Markham, Canada on Sunday. Just last month Jin Wei wrote Malaysian history as the first player from the country to win the Youth Olympics gold and this was in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
“Why wait till 2024. Time is gold and I can just go and fight for a place in the Tokyo Olympics. I will be at my prime age,” said the 2017 Sea Games gold medallist at the KLIA on her return from Canada on Tuesday.
Jin Wei pointed out that playing in senior-level tournaments gained her a “lot of exposure and experience” and this came in handy playing in the Youth Olympics and the World Junior Championships.
She next heads to Gwangju to compete in the Korea Masters (Nov 28-Dec 2) but first, she will take it “easy” in the next two days before resuming her training.
In the Junior Championships, the Malaysian ace defeated Denmark’s Line Christophersen 21-13, 21-11 in a 31-minute final. In the Youth Olympics final, Jin Wei defeated China’s Wang Zhiyi 16-21, 21-13, 21-19 to regain the gold medal. – BY RIZAL ABDULLAH
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