Jin Wei spars with Tien-chen and others ahead of worlds

PETALING JAYA: Shuttler Goh Jin Wei has the best training arrangement going into the World Championships as she has been sparring with different players from different countries, including Taiwan’s top men singles shuttler Chou Tien-chen.

And hopefully, it will help her in a big way to lift the gloom in her badminton career.

The 23-year-old Jin Wei who is on a comeback trail after recovering from her stomach ailment, has lost in the first round of every Open tournament this year but coach Nova Armada is not giving up on her.

Malaysia will be represented by Jin Wei and S. Kisona in the women’s singles event at the world meet from Aug 21-27 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Nova is being positive with Jin Wei’s progress in training.

“Tien-chen is with us for 10 days here. I also have players from Europe (Germany, Austria, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Hungary), India and Sri Lanka. It’s a good platform for Jin Wei here to have quality sparring and adapt to variety style of play,” said Nova.

“On top of that, we also have our own independent players like Soong Joo Ven, Cheam June Wei, Lim Chong King and Lim Chi Wing.

“We are trying to raise Jin Wei’s stamina. She can last for two games but runs out of gas in three. We hope by end of this year, this will no longer be her problem.

On Jin Wei’s chance in the world meet, Nova wants to focus on the first round first.

She faces Hungary’s Vivien Sandorhazi in the opener and if she wins, she will face top seed An Se-young, who has been on an excellent winning streak on the Tour by winning a total six so far.

On paper, it looks impossible for Jin Wei to beat the Korean star Se-young.

“Our goal is to help Jin Wei go through the first round and be ready to give a worthy fight against Se-young,” he said.

“The ultimate goal is to help Jin Wei to be consistent and last the pace in every game. We are looking beyond the world championships right now.”

At world No. 35, Jin Wei is the country’s top ranked women singles player and followed by Kisona at 60.

If she can improve her stamina, and continue to press on, Jin Wei is still Malaysia’s best bet to qualify for the Paris Olympic Games.