PETALING JAYA: It may be early days, but Tan Kean Wei (pic) is already proving he belongs in the national set-up.
The 20-year-old delivered a breakthrough performance at the Vietnam International Challenge in Hanoi last week, storming from the qualifying rounds to the quarter-finals while taking down several higher-ranked opponents along the way.
World No. 228 Kean Wei stunned South Korea’s Park Sang-yong (No. 92) in the opening round, before beating UAE’s Bharath Lathessh (No. 164) and India’s Satish Kumar (No. 90) to underline his growing potential. His impressive run was eventually halted by South Korea’s Kim Hae-deun in the last eight.
What makes the feat even more remarkable is that Kean Wei only joined the national squad in mid-February, with this being just his third tournament of the year.
The Penang-born shuttler credited the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) coaching team and his teammates for helping him adapt quickly.
“I feel happy to be part of the national squad. The training here is very good and more structured.
“Training here is tough, but the quality is higher, and all the players here are very nice. My teammates are also very friendly.
“The coaches have also helped me by pointing out what I did right and wrong during training,” said Kean Wei, who started playing badminton at the age of six.
At the same time, the Penang-born player looks up to Thailand’s world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn, admiring not only his attacking play but also his defensive strength.
With that in mind, Kean Wei hopes to follow in his idol’s footsteps, and to do so, his first goal is to improve his world ranking.
“For now, I want to improve my ranking first. If possible, I want to break into the top 100, then the top 50, and after that aim for an even higher position,” he added.
