KUALA LUMPUR: Mixed doubles shuttler Toh Ee Wei knows exactly what is at stake in next week's Super 1000 Badminton Asia Championships (BAC) in Dubai.
The 22-year-old and her partner Chen Tang Jie hope to make the most of the continental meet to continue their steady rise in the world rankings.
In just four months after being paired up, Ee Wei-Tang Jie moved from No 272 to a career-best No 22 after winning three titles, including the Super 300 Orleans Masters two weeks ago.
Ee Wei-Tang Jie are aware things can only get tough given that they will see more action in higher-tier World Tour tournaments and regularly going up against top-ranked opponents.
Ee Wei-Tang Jie have so far featured only three times in tournaments rated Super 500 or higher.
Their best was reaching the quarter-finals of the Super 750 Malaysia Open in January.
The BAC will mark their only second appearance in a Super 1000 event following their first-round exit at last month's All England.
In Dubai, odds are stacked against Ee Wei-Tang Jie to clear their opening hurdle as they have been drawn against world No 10 Kim Won Ho-Jeong Na Eun of South Korea.
The last time they took on Won Ho-Na Eun in the German Open last eight, Ee Wei-Tang Jie went down 22-20, 21-14.
Ee Wei hopes to turn the tables on the in-form Koreans, who made it to no worse than the semi-finals in all their last four outings, the last being the All England.
"As long as we bring our best performance to the court, we will stand a chance regardless of who we play against," said Ee Wei today.
Even if they manage to pull off an upset, Ee Wei-Tang Jie face a tall order in progressing beyond the last eight as world No 1 Zheng Si Wei-Huang Ya Qiong are almost certain of standing in their way should they make it that far.
"We're not setting any target for the BAC, but it does not mean we will take it easy.
"We did not have the luxury of time to train since returning from Europe. We are trying to utilise all the time we have to rectify our shortcomings and fine-tune our game.
"We will try our best to march as far as possible."