KUALA LUMPUR: National female shuttler Goh Jin Wei brought glory to Malaysia when she won the World Junior Championships held in Markham, Canada on Sunday (Monday in Malaysia).
According to Badminton World Federation (BWF), www.bwfbadminton.com, Jin Wei put up an energised game and defeated Line Christophersen from Denmark 21-13 and 21-11 in the finals held at the Markham Pan Am Centre
The victory is the second for the Penang-born player who won the same championship in 2015 after defeating fellow Malaysian Lee Ying Ying in the final game.
Last month, Jin Wei brought glory to the nation when she created history by being the first Malaysian athlete to win gold at the third edition of the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Meanwhile, national women’s double player Pearly Tan Koong Le-Toh Ee Wei who was third seed, failed to follow in Jun Wei’s footsteps when they lost 16-21 and 16-21 to top seeds Liu Xuanxuan-Xia Yuting from China.
President of the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) Datuk Seri Mohamad Norza Zakaria told Bernama the association was very proud of Jin Wei’s outstanding achievement, as well as that of her partner. He said a special reward for the two players will be discussed at BAM’s management meeting next week.
“The success is a good sign as at the BAM level, we see them as the next level of players after the current ones,” Mohamad Norza said.
He said the achievements of these young players at the championship was the result of the association’s efforts to produce under 21 talents, including Aaron Chia Teng Fong and Soh Wooi Yik as well as national youth players Leong Jun Hao and Lee Zii Jia.
“Our work is to continue developing more young players as we have been too dependent on senior players and the time has come for us to invest more actively in our younger players,” Mohamad Norza said. – Bernama
