KUALA LUMPUR: Mixed doubles’ pair Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei are prepared to take on the challenge to display more consistent action in the hunt for qualifying points to the 2024 Paris Olympics next July.
Ee Wei, 23, admitted she needed abit more time before being able to match the top pairs in the world after being paired with Tang Jie a year ago.
“Our form has been going up and down so we need to be more consistent as the top 10 pairs in the world have been able to maintain their performance.
“Maybe many are putting their hopes too high on us but we do no see it as a pressure, we are taking it as a motivation,” she told reporters when met during the training session at Akademi Badminton Malaysia, here today.
Earlier, Akademi Badminton Malaysia (ABM) coaching director Rexy Mainaky expressed his disappointment when Tang Jie-Ee Wei and men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik failed to progress to the semi-finals of the World Tour Finals in Hangzhou, China recently.
Rexy also urged Tang Jie-Ee Wei to confirm the ticket to the Olympics as soon as possible so that they can reduce participation in the World Tour tournaments, and can fully focus on the preparation for the world’s biggest sporting event.
Since teaming up, the couple has shown quite an outstanding performance and they managed to reach the top 10 in the world and qualified to play in the recent World Tour Finals.
Just two weeks after pairing up, Tang Jie-Ee Wei successfully won the Bangladesh International Challenge 2022 title, in addition to emerging as the champion of two World Tour 300 tournaments this year, namely the Taipei Open and the Orleans Masters.
Ee Wei said that even though both showed encouraging performance this year, they did not want to be swayed by their existing achievements ahead of the tough challenge in Paris which will start on July 26 next year.
Ee Wei said that currently she and Tang Jie are making thorough preparations to open the 2024 campaign at the Malaysian Open from Jan 9-14 at the Axiata Arena, against French pair Thom Gicquel-Delphine Delrue.
The two also only rested for three days after the World Tour Finals in Hangzhou, China which took place on Dec 13-17, before resuming training.–Bernama
