PETALING JAYA: Miracles do happen.
And for national doubles coaching director Rexy Mainaky, Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei’s historic world title was nothing short of that as the Malaysian pair etched their names in badminton history.
World No. 4 Tang Jie-Ee Wei stunned the badminton fraternity by toppling China’s world No. 2 Jiang Zhenbang-Wei Yaxin 21-15, 21-14 at the Adidas Arena in Port de la Chapelle in Paris on Sunday to become the first Malaysians to capture the mixed doubles gold in the world meet.
It was an outstanding turnaround from the pair after they went as far as to split briefly in March due to personal differences before resolving their issues and reuniting quickly less than a month later.
Even after coming back together, Tang Jie-Ee Wei struggled to regain their best form and did not reach any finals before heading to Paris.
Rexy said the pair’s struggles made them stronger and more determined to raise their performance in the world meet.
“First of all, I want to thank God. Tang Jie-Ee Wei’s achievement is truly a miracle,” said Rexy.
“They went through so many issues until they even split but they reunited and grew stronger and managed to win the world title. Their performance from the quarter-finals until the final was very consistent. They made less mistakes.
“Their team spirit and communication was very good. They supported each other a lot. This helped them a lot to overcome pressure on court,” added Rexy.
Rexy was also happy with women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah’s silver medal success in Paris.
Pearly-Thinaah went down fighting 14-21, 22-20, 17-21 to China’s world No. 1 Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning in the final.
Despite the defeat, the world No. 2 pair drew praise from fans for their tremendous fighting spirit and against the formidable Chinese duo.
Pearly-Thinaah also became the first ever Malaysians to win a women’s doubles medal in the prestigious meet.
“Overall, it was a good performance from Pearly-Thinaah as well,” said Rexy.
Women’s doubles coach Rosman Razak was also proud of his charges’ showing.
“Although Pearly-Thinaah lost, I’m proud of the spirit they both showed and their support for each other all through the challenges they faced.
“We will keep working hard to improve on their weaknesses for the upcoming tournaments.”
The gold and silver was Malaysia’s best ever achievement in a single edition of the world meet.
The country’s best showing previously was in the 2022 edition in Tokyo where men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik won the title for the first time.
