Big ambitions: Woon Khe Wei giving a speech during the opening ceremony of her academy. — YAP CHEE HONG/The Star
PUCHONG: Former shuttler Woon Khe Wei hopes to produce Malaysia’s next Olympic medallists through her badminton academy, Medalist International Sports Centre.
Khe Wei, who didn’t manage to win a medal in the Olympics herself when she and Vivian Hoo were Malaysia’s top women’s doubles pair, now wants to help develop youngsters to achieve what every shuttler dreams of in badminton’s grandest stage.
To realise this vision, the 36-year-old wants to provide top-notch facilities for players in her academy like those at the Academy Badminton Malaysia (ABM) in Bukit Kiara and National Sports Institute (NSI) in Bukit Jalil.
“I started my academy to train youngsters to win an Olympic medal because I missed the chance to do so with Vivian,” said Khe Wei at the opening ceremony of her academy in Puchong yesterday.
“I named my academy Medalist Sports Centre because I want to train players to win medals for Malaysia.
“I also want to have a proper academy which has strength and conditioning class, physiotherapy and sports massage in the future like in NSI.”
The idea to open an academy first came to Khe Wei in 2019 after she retired from the sport.
At first, she conducted her classes in rented training facilities before a friend urged her to have her own academy.
Her academy has already been up and running since February.
“My initial plan was to just train players but then one of my friends suggested to me to have my own sports centre,” said Khe Wei. “In the future, I’m also exploring the idea of sending the players in my academy overseas for training sometimes,” added Khe Wei.”
