PETALING JAYA: Genevie Lim hopes to follow in the footsteps of her idol and national teammate Pearly Tan as she prepares to move into the senior ranks after becoming a world junior champion.
The 18-year-old ended her final World Junior Championships on a high by winning the girls’ doubles title with Low Zi Yu after beating Japan’s Nijika Kamata-Shizuku Kashio 15-7, 9-15, 15-12 in the final in Cairo.
The victory also made them the first Malaysian girls’ doubles pair to win the title since the tournament began in 1992.
It capped a memorable campaign for Genevie, who a week earlier had also helped Malaysia reach the mixed team final for the first time in nine years before settling for silver.
Although she missed out on another medal after she and Irfan Shazmir were knocked out in the mixed doubles quarter-finals, Genevie was still pleased with the way she brought her junior career to a close.
Much of that success came alongside Zi Yu, despite the pair only being put together a week before leaving for the Asian Junior Championships in Yatsushiro in June, where they won bronze.
Their partnership continued to grow from there before they eventually went all the way in Cairo.
“For me, I really ended it on a good note, although it was a little bittersweet in the mixed doubles because we lost by just a few points.
“Of course, I would really love to follow in Pearly’s footsteps. As I said, she is my idol and I really look up to the way she plays and everything she has achieved,” said Genevie.
Ironically, Pearly missed out on becoming a world junior champion when she partnered Toh Ee Wei at the 2018 edition in Markham, Canada, but she has since established herself with M. Thinaah as one of the most formidable women’s doubles pairs in the world.
With her junior career now over, Genevie is turning her attention to the next stage, although she is leaving it to the national coaching team to decide who she will partner at senior level.
Although Zi Yu is still eligible to compete at junior level at just 16, she has already formed a good partnership with Noraqilah Maisarah Ramdan at senior level.
The pair were selected for the Uber Cup Finals in Horsens, Denmark, in April and were also part of Malaysia’s squad at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games last month.
“For now, I’m not sure. I still have to discuss it with my coach,” added Genevie.
Genevie also hopes her breakthrough can inspire more young players from Sarawak and Borneo to believe they can make it into the national set-up and represent the country.
“For me, I feel very proud to become the first to bring back a gold medal for Sarawak.
“I really hope this achievement can inspire more Sarawak players and give them the motivation to believe that they can do it too,” said Genevie.
