Kuala Lumpur: The 21-year-old Goh Jin Wei of Malaysia was considered a generational women’s singles prospect when she won the 2015 World Junior Championships at the age of 15. Goh became the first-ever badminton player to win both World Junior Championships and the Youth Olympic Games title when she defeated Wang Zhiyi of China to win Malaysia’s first gold medal at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games and overcame Line Christophersen of Denmark to capture her second title at the 2018 World Junior Championship in Markham, Canada.
However, Goh made a shocking announcement on Monday morning Malaysia time that she has decided to hang up her racket citing health reasons, and also hinting unfair treatment from the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) especially when she was not selected to play at the Sudirman Cup.
“The amount of medication I have to take is getting more and more. For the sake of my health, I have no choice but to end my career earlier,” she said in a video posted on her YouTube channel.
Videos from Goh Jin Wei announcing her retirement:
Goh underwent a colectomy surgery in Oct 2019, which saw part of her colon removed. Since then, she has been struggling to get back to her fitness and superior form which propelled her to World No. 24 ranking on August 9, 2018.
The Penang-born player said she had to make that decision despite admitting that she still ‘loves’ the sport of badminton.
“However, I believe the journey is still long. I believe I can excel in other fields in the future and I am ready to work hard,” he said.
In her video, the 2017 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games gold medalist spoke of stories metaphorically about a “dream” she had, where she was not selected for the Sudirman Cup and she only learned about the incident not directly from her coaches or BAM, instead, from news on social media.
That incident might have inadvertently pushed her button and caused her to announce her retirement from badminton at the age of 21.
Many of her fans encouraged her to consider playing for Singapore, and they would not blame her, instead, they would continue to support her.
Goh was offered an attractive package from Singapore Schools Sports Council after she completed her elementary school. However, she decided to turn down the offer which allowed her to study and play badminton in Singapore.
According to BAM, Goh first tendered her resignation early last month, they have tried to persuade her to stay. But BAM decided to respect her decision this time around and thanked her for her contribution to Malaysian badminton.
