Finding her own Wei

TWO years ago, former top national women’s doubles shuttler Woon Khe Wei (pic) was forced into early retirement due to knee injury but the setback did not dampen her spirits. Instead, the 2016 Rio Olympics quarter-finallist with Vivian Hoo, started her own Medalist Badminton Academy and assumed a role as a social media influencer. Now, the sweet-faced Khe Wei boasts about 85,200 followers on her Instagram and the numbers are growing. StarSport’s TAN MING WAI caught up with the lanky lady via voice messages to find out how she has been coping.

Q: How different is life since you left the badminton scene in December, 2018?

A: It has been eventful I must say. I really put in lots of time and effort into setting up the Medalist Badminton Academy and I’m really happy with the progress that we have made thus far. Starting from scratch, we now have six coaches and more than 100 over trainees. I learned so much in the past one year and I love the challenges. I don’t think I have been this busy all my life. Even when I was a player, I had my off days, but now I have to coach and also see the day-to-day operation. We are based at the USJ Supercourts in Subang Jaya. If all goes well, we are looking at expanding to more places in future.