NATIONAL women's singles coach Indra Wijaya believes the Orleans Masters in France on March 23-28 will be the best tournament to assess how far Goh Jin Wei has come since her injury-plagued days.
Jin Wei, 21, has not seen competitive action after the Asia Team Championships in February last year. She is sitting at No 145 on the world rankings, way below her career best of No 24.
Prior to making a comeback last year, the Penang-born player was sidelined for nearly seven months due to a stomach ailment, which saw her had a colectomy in October 2019.
Despite showing signs of a resurgence in an internal tournament organised by BAM last year, Jin Wei has yet to be tested on the international stage.
"The Orleans Masters may not be a tournament of Jin Wei's standard, but we must accept the fact that she has not played competitively in a long time," said Indrawan yesterday.
"Based on training, I would say Jin Wei is doing very well. But I want to see if she can cope with the high demands of playing in an international tournament.
"Her preparation has been good, along with the others (S. Kisona and Lee Ying Ying) who will also be playing in the Orleans Masters."
Indra hopes Kisona will take her chances well to move up the world rankings following her good start this year. Unlike Jin Wei, Kisona was lucky to play in two Super 1000 events last month (Yonex Thailand Open and Toyota Thailand Open), and will play in her third next month, the All England on March 17-22.
"Kisona is very lucky. Not only did she get to experience a top tier event, it also helped her move up the world rankings (62)," said Indra.