PETALING JAYA: Playing at home can be the right tonic to energise shuttler Goh Jin Wei for the new year.
The 24-year-old Jin Wei has qualified for the Malaysian Open from Jan 7-12 as the last qualifier in the 32-draw women’s singles competition at Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil.
She ended 2024 without much significant successes leaving room to question her future as a player.
Still standing tall as the highest ranked Malaysian women’s singles shuttler at the 43rd position in the world, Jin Wei, however, had not cleared the early rounds of any of her 14 tournaments this year.
Jin Wei is certainly demoralised but she is not giving up.
And coach Nova Armada is sticking by her too and hopes that playing at home could spark a comeback.
“I hope she will get off to a good start next year. Hopefully, when she plays infront of her home fans, it will inspire her to perform well,” said Nova.
“We are looking at her programme and what will work best for her.”
Asked whether there is a plan to get Jin Wei to play in the doubles, Nova said: “No, not at all.
“We will stick to singles as we have planned. It’s Jin Wei’s intention to fight for another four years.”
“As long as the sponsor is there, she will remain competitive. We will look at the Super 300 and Super 500 next year, and move up from there.”
Jin Wei managed to get in following the absence of several top players, including P.V. Sindhu of India.
The 29-year-old former world champion is getting married to professional IT Venkata Datta Sai on Dec 22 and is skipping the season opener.
The top five players confirmed for the tournament are top seed An Se-young of South Korea, China’s Wang Zhiyi, Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi, Indonesia’s Gregoria Mariska and China’s Han Yue.
