KUALA LUMPUR – Mixed doubles pair Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei and women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah won’t be medal contenders at the Paris Olympics in the current form they are in now, according to national badminton coaching director Rexy Mainaky.
“Every coach wants their players to win medals at the Olympics, but at the moment I don’t see Tang Jie-Ee Wei, Pearly-Thinaah are capable yet of fighting for a medal in Paris.
“This will be both pairs’ first Olympics and I hope when they seal their qualifying spots their motivation and belief in themselves will increase.
“Hopefully this will lead them to become medal contenders,” said Rexy.
Pearly-Thinaah have not found their footing recently as they were dumped out in the first round by eventual champions Liu Shenshu-Tan Ning of China at the Malaysia Open, before being knocked out by world number four pair Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida of Japan in the India Open.
At the same time, Tang Jie- Ee Wei were knocked out by Japan’s Hiroki Midorikawa-Natsu Saito in the second round of the Malaysia Open. The pair then lost to Sapsiree Taerattanachai-Dechapol Puavaranukroh of Thailand in the second round of the India Open.
Meanwhile, the Olympic qualifying period that began in May 2023 and ends in April, will only take into account the 10 best performances from each pair to determine if they qualify for the Paris summer games.
The top 16 pairs in the Race to Paris rankings will make it to the Olympics.
Rexy added that Tang Jie and Ee Wei have been giving below-par performances despite easy draws.
“Based on their performance at the BWF World Tour Finals – which was positive – we targeted the pair to make it to the quarter-finals of the Malaysia Open and India Open, respectively.
“In India against Puavaranukroh-Taerattanachai, they looked like they lost belief in themselves. They need to improve on this.
“Pearly and Thinaah still need to work on their physical conditioning and strength to get back into top form,” added the Indonesian. – January 24, 2024