What’s Goh-ing on

Last hurrah: Goh Liu Ying hitting a return to Thailand’s Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai during the semi-finals of the World Tour Finals. — AFP

Mixed doubles shuttler Goh Liu Ying reflects on the highs and lows that saw an end to a 13-year partnership with Chan Peng Soon. Will she play on?

Q: What’s your best and worst moments?

A: Winning my first Open title with Peng Soon at the Asian Championships in New Delhi in 2010 was special. It was the country’s first Open title in mixed doubles. We became the country’s first mixed pair to qualify for the Olympic Games in 2012 (London). The year 2016 was unforgettable. We won silver at the Rio Olympics, a first mixed doubles medal in Olympics for Malaysia. In 2017, we reached the All-England final too in a competitive field – that was good. The worst was missing out on a medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. We lost in the semis and the bronze-medal playoff. We were one of the favourites, so that defeat was painful. Of course, there were other difficult times too, like when I underwent knee surgery in 2013.

Both of you were in the first batch of specialised mixed doubles under doubles head coach Rexy Mainaky. Who made a significant difference?

Yes, we did not have a full-time and specialised mixed doubles department until Rexy started it (in 2007). I’m glad Rexy had the vision for this. I had different partners (which included Zakry Mohd Latif and Koo Kien Keat) at the back-up level until coach Rosman Razak paired me up with Peng Soon (in 2009). Then, we trained under Jeremy Gan in Bukit Jalil. We were promoted to the national team together with Jeremy as our first full-time mixed doubles coach at the senior level. Our mixed doubles department soared after that. Before that, Malaysians were considered the minnows in international events. Jeremy groomed us and improved our tactical game and skills. Then, coach Chin Eei Hui took over in BAM to further improve our game and last year, she joined us under the independent banner. I’m grateful to each of these coaches for their contributions.