KUALA LUMPUR – National table tennis coach Beh Lee Wei is optimistic that the recent stellar performances of Malaysia’s table tennis players will capture the attention of the National Sports Council (NSC), prompting them to inject more funds into the sport’s development programme.
Despite prevailing doubts about Malaysia’s table tennis squad’s ability to end a 37-year Olympic drought since Lau Wai Cheng and Leong Mee Wan’s participation in the 1988 Seoul Olympics, their commendable performances in the two most recent qualifying tournaments indicate a promising resurgence.
In the most recent event, Choong Javen and Karen Lynn Dick demonstrated remarkable resilience, advancing to the knockout round (KO3) semi-finals before succumbing to a 1-4 defeat against the Romanian pair, Ovidiu Ionescu-Bernadette Szocs, in the World Mixed Doubles Olympic Qualification held in Havirov, Czech Republic.
Furthermore, at the Team Table Tennis Championship in Busan, South Korea, last February, Malaysia’s women’s team made history by advancing to the knockout stage after finishing as runners-up in Group 5, narrowly trailing behind South Korea.
However, their extraordinary journey came to a close following a competitive encounter with Croatia.
“I think one of the driving factors of our success is that we have a good team. Each player has their own strengths, so we have a variety of players on the team.
“Another thing is that, apart from Ho Ying, the rest of the players on this team are between 20 and 21 years old.
“Compared to other sports in Malaysia, how many of them qualify for the World Championships on merit? We can now be proud that we are among the top 24 teams in the world, so on that basis, I hope we will get more attention from the government,” said Lee Wei to Scoop.
At the same time, Lee Wei also stresses the critical need for a comprehensive development programme from the NSC and the government, highlighting the vulnerability of relying solely on a limited pool of experienced players.
“We need their support so that more table tennis players can gain exposure and opportunities to compete internationally.
“Honestly, we are in urgent need of a development programme from the NSC and government support because the players representing the country now have been competing for two to three years.
“If we don’t have a solid development programme, we might be in trouble. If a player gets sick or injured, we won’t have any other players.
“What’s more worrying is that if there is no continuity in the programme, we may not be able to use all the facilities available at the NSC, so I hope the government takes our problem seriously,” she added.
The national table tennis team’s final opportunity to secure a spot at the Paris Olympic Games rests on the Southeast Asian Qualification Tournament in Bangkok, Thailand, scheduled for May 6, where they will compete in the individual event. – April 17, 2024