Carine Tee
IPOH: Shuttler Carine Tee may be short in stature but she is not letting her height stand in the way of her dream of making it big in badminton.
Carine, who turns 17 at the end of this month, is determined to fight hard to reach the top.
And for a start, she is hoping to get the nod for the Asian Junior Championships from July 18-27 in Solo, Indonesia.
The pint-sized lass from Selangor plays in both the girl’s singles and doubles and stole the show last year when she captured the Affin Elite Tour Under-16 crown with Lee Mun in the doubles.
Carine has an opportunity to prove herself in the ongoing National Under-18 Championships where she will have to battle the likes of reigning national Under-21 champion Lim Zhi Shin, last year’s Malaysia Games (Sukma) silver medallist Oo Shan Zi and Eng Ler Qi for the singles title.
In the doubles, Carine will not have it easy either along with Lee Mun as world junior silver medallists and top seeds Dania Sofea Zaidi-Low Zi Yu will present a formidable challenge.
"It will be tough for me in the tournament but I’m hoping to pull off upsets in the singles and doubles to improve my chances of getting selected for the Asian Juniors," said Carine, who idolises South Korean An Se-young.
"I love watching Se-young as she is currently the best women’s singles player in the world.
"She is highly skillful and her footwork is so smooth. I want to learn a lot by watching her play.
"She also has great fighting spirit. Although her opponents are leading in matches, she can still come back and win. I hope to be like her in the future."
Carine has been impressing junior singles head coach Aaron Lee Inbaraj and he is backing her up although she will be up against a tough field.
Zhi Shin, Ler Qi and Shan Zi are all already part of the senior team while Carine is in the junior team under Aaron and assistant coach Sylvia Kavita.
The youngster did train briefly with the seniors under previous coach Jeffer Rosobin, who left BAM in February.
Aaron believes that the short stint benefitted Carine and the latter is slightly ahead in terms of her development compared to his other charges.
"Most of the girls under me are fairly even but Carine is a little different," said Aaron.
"We had an internal tournament recently and she was quite impressive. I feel she is a little ahead of the rest.
"Before she came, she trained with older girls and also the boys under Jeffer. She came in with more maturity and quality.
"If there’s anyone who can make it into the Asian Junior team from my group, it’s her."
