Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia’s “Road To Gold” (RTG) project which was officially launched on March 11, 2023, is an initiative by the Malaysian government to help Malaysian athletes to prepare and hopefully win the first Olympic gold medal for Malaysia in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The initial list contains 8 Malaysian badminton players including Lee Zii Jia (men’s singles), Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik (men’s doubles), Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi (men’s doubles), Pearly Tan/M.Thinaah (women’s doubles), Tan Kian Ming/Lai Pei Jing (mixed doubles), and Goh Soon Huat/Shevon Lai Jemie (mixed doubles). However, it’s also expected that the current men’s singles World No. 25 Ng Tze Yong and mixed doubles World No. 22 Chen Tang Jie/Toh Ee Wei could soon join the list.
Chen/Toh who recently won the BWF World Tour Super 300 at the Orleans Masters are aware that they must first prove their ability in achieving good results at international tournaments before even thinking about making the RTG list.
“We are aware that there are many great players at home and abroad. So, we will continue to work hard and to strive to improve ourselves, give our best in every competition and fight for qualification to the Olympic Games,” said Chen.
“If we can be part of this RTG program, it means that our ability is being recognized by all parties and of course, it is something positive. Now our main task is to try to improve performance and achieve more success,” added Chen.
So far, no mixed doubles pair from the Malaysian national badminton team has been selected for the RTG program. Tan Kian Meng/Lai Pei Jing and Goh Soon Huat/Shevon Lai Jemie are two professional pairs who left the Malaysian badminton national team in 2021.
The two main criteria to for making the RTG program are:
1. medal winners at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics
2. being ranked in the top 10 in the world
Chen/Toh have the opportunity to increase their ranking if they manage to record positive results when they compete in the Badminton Asia Championship (BAC) which will take place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) from 25 to 30 April.
They will open their campaign against the seventh seed from South Korea, Kom Won Ho/Jeong Na Eun.
