PETALING JAYA: Mixed doubles shuttler Toh Ee Wei has always been a fighter.
Ee Wei successfully fought off tuberculosis (TB) for two years before she began partnering Chen Tang Jie in November 2022 and her battling qualities on court helped the pair to rise from scratch to world No. 9 when the Olympic qualifiers ended in April, 2024.
However, Ee Wei is also being careful not to allow her over-enthusiastic nature to derail their Olympic campaign in Paris.
The arrival of former Indonesian mixed doubles ace Nova Widianto has helped their cause as Tang Jie-Ee Wei became Malaysia’s highest ranked pair and pipped seniors Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie and Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing to make their Olympics debut in Paris.
While Ee Wei is the livewire of the partnership, she is also well aware that her tendency to try too hard and to let her emotions take over can lead to the pair ending up on the losing side.
“My journey has never been easy. I had to battle serious illness but everything happened at the right time and I’m really happy that we fought all the way to qualify for the Olympics,” said Ee Wei.
“I must also thank coach Nova who arrived just when we were starting out and helped us all the way.
“My character is such that I want to win every match and sometimes, I become just too eager. I need to control myself and keep my emotions in check.
“I must also think about my partner and we have been working on being a close unit. This is important to do well in Paris.”
Ee Wei and Tang Jie said the mental training sessions with psychologist Frederick Tan has been helping them de-stress and focus on their Paris mission.
“There are always ups and downs in tournaments and also in training. Fred is a good motivator. He has done a lot to help us to control our emotions and recover from setbacks,” added the 23-year-old Ee Wei.
Tang Jie said they are fortunate to have two world class performers – Rexy Mainaky and Nova – as their coaches before they go out to perform at the Olympics.
National coaching director Rexy was one of the greatest men’s doubles players ever and was a world (1995) and an Olympic (1996) gold medallist with Ricky Subagja.
Nova is a two-time world champion (2005 and 2007) and an Olympic silver medallist (2008) with Lilyana Natsir.
Nova and veteran coach Richard Mainaky had also trained Lilyana and Tontowi Ahmad to the mixed doubles gold in 2016 Rio de Janeiro. They beat now-retired Malaysians Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying in the final.
Although Tang Jie-Ee Wei’s performance has been inconsistent of late, Nova wants the pair to forget about their setbacks and start afresh for the Olympics.
“Obviously, we want to overcome their weaknesses but I don’t want them to dwell on the past. It stops them from moving forward,” said Nova.
With Rexy a master of emotions, and the ice-cool Nova sitting at the Malaysians’ corner this time, Ee Wei can hope to do something spectacular with Tang Jie in Paris.