Pei Tty counting on inner strength in Titanic battle for medal

KUALA LUMPUR: National women’s doubles shuttler Wong Pei Tty may be physically weaker than the others in the team but she sure is strong at heart.

And the 30-year-old will be counting on her inner strength to achieve good results with partner Chin Eei Hui in the World Championships, which will be held at the Wembley Arena in London from Aug 8-14.

The duo have never gone beyond the quarter-finals and Pei Tty, despite not being at her best due to her knee problem, is setting an ambitious goal of making a breakthrough at Wembley.

“The pain on my knee is not going to stop me from giving my best. Besides, I am taking all the proper measures to ease the discomfort,” said Pei Tty, who was in Alor Setar for the Kedah Open two weeks ago.

Although she did not compete in the local event, she joined her team-mates during their morning training sessions.

Pei Tty is now at the Bath University, which is located at Bath Spa in the county of Somerset, with the rest of the Malaysian team for the final leg of their preparation for the World Championships. The Malaysian team will leave for Wembley on Aug 4.

It’s amazing how Pei Tty qualified for the world meet. She only made a comeback at the Australian Open in April after taking it easy for eight months following a knee surgery.

With steady performances in just two months, Pei Tty and Eei Hui managed to make the cut for the world meet.

“I had to skip last year’s world meet because of my knee injury, which led me to go for surgery. I am glad to be back. I have been pushing myself hard and I felt the strain recently but I am not slowing down. This may be my last world outing and I want to do well,” said Pei Tty.

She made her debut with Eei Hui in the 2005 World Championships in Anaheim, reaching the quarter-finals. She also made the last eight at the 2006 (Madrid) and 2007 (Kuala Lumpur) editions. Her biggest disappointment was a third round exit in the 2009 (India) edition.

Pei Tty, however, has done well in the mixed doubles event in the world meet, winning a bronze when she reached the semi-finals with Koo Kien Keat in Madrid.

“I have won one bronze with Koo in the mixed doubles and I really want to win a medal with Eei Hui,” she said.

The Malaysians, however, face a tough opening match in their fifth world outing as they have been drawn to meet local hopefuls Jenny Wallwork-Gabrille White.

If they make it, they will take on fourth seeds Mizuki Fujii-Reika Kakiiwa of Japan in the second round. The Malaysians have beaten the Japanese pair twice – at the 2009 French Open and this year’s Australian Open.

The others in Pei Tty-Eei Hui’s half are 10th seeds Valeri Sorokina-Nina Vislova of Russia, fifth seeds Tian Qing-Zhao Yunlei of China, Denmark’s Kamilla Rytter Juhl-Christinna Pedersen, second seeds Cheng Wem-hsing-Chien Yu-chin of Taiwan, Indonesians Vita Marissa-Nadya Melati and South Koreans Ha Jung-eun-Kim Min-jung.

Top seeds Wang Xiaoli-Yu Yang of China are in the top half of the draw with Indonesians Meiliana Jauhari-Lilyana Natsir and three Japanese pairs – Shizuka Matsuo-Mami Naito, Miyuki Maeda-Satoko Suetsuna and Matsutomo Misaki-Ayaka Takahashi.

Posted by Lucas Liau on 11:52 AM. Filed under Top News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0