KUALA LUMPUR – With the Paris Olympics just a month away, concerns are mounting for the national mixed doubles duo, Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei, as their performance has taken a sudden downturn with consecutive early exits in recent tournaments.
The pair’s misfortune started with their unexpected defeat at the Malaysia Masters two weeks ago, despite being favoured to clinch the title as top seeds.
This was followed by a disappointing quarter-final exit at the Singapore Open last week, losing to the South Korean pair, Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yu-jung. Their woes continued as they were eliminated early in the first round of the Indonesia Open by the same opponents.
Akademi Badminton Malaysia coaching director Rexy Mainaky expressed disappointment at the situation, given that Tang Jie and Ee Wei had been meticulously prepared for these three tournaments.
These events were considered crucial tests of their capabilities, particularly as part of the elite Road to Gold programme aimed at securing medals at the upcoming Paris Olympics.
“If a player is not performing well, especially at the highest level, and they understand why they lost at this level, it is still acceptable.
“But if they have prepared well but still perform poorly, failing to meet the coaches’ expectations, then that is a problem for me,” said Rexy.
The Indonesian-born coach is also disappointed with Tang Jie’s attitude displayed in several matches and is seeking a solution together with mixed doubles coach Nova Widianto to address the issue.
“In my opinion, both parties, the players and the coaches, need to work together.
“From my observation, Tang Jie is still not mature. I often tell him that despite his strong physique, he is still emotionally fragile.
“Perhaps in his life so far, he has wanted others to protect him, to have everything easy, and I think this has affected his performance on the court.
“You can see that when they get easy points, he will scream loudly and appear intimidating, but when they lose points and fall behind, he then becomes silent and confused. Sometimes, his partner, Ee Wei, starts to get angry.
“So this is the issue we need to address right now. As coaches, we will sit down with the players to review previous match videos, when they started playing together and performed well,” he added. – June 5, 2024