KUALA LUMPUR: Former national mixed doubles player Goh Liu Ying revealed that the spotlight on Lee Chong Wei at the Rio Olympics in 2016 helped her and partner Chan Peng Soon win a surprise silver.
And there is a parallel here that could boost mixed doubles pair Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei's chances when they compete in the Paris Olympics which start later this month.
"Before heading to Rio de Janeiro, we set a target of winning a medal. But we knew that even if we were not the favourites, there's still pressure on us.
"We were lucky the mixed doubles was not as prominent as the men's singles or doubles, so Chong Wei took a huge load of the pressure off our shoulders," the 35-year-old Liu Ying told Timesport yesterday.
At that time, Liu Ying-Peng Soon were No 11 in the world and not seen as a medal contender at the Rio Olympics. But they surprisingly stormed into the final.
In the gold-medal match, Liu Ying-Peng Soon, who had the whole of Malaysia on the edge of their seats, were edged by Indonesian pair Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir.
In Rio, Chong Wei had ousted the great Lin Dan of China in the semi-finals, but went down to Chen Long in a closely contested final.
At the Paris Olympics, Tang Jie-Ee Wei will find themselves in a similar position to Liu Ying-Peng Soon's.
The focus and expectations will be more on the likes of former All England champion Lee Zii Jia and former men's doubles world champions Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik.
Zii Jia has set himself the target of winning the men's singles gold, and it's the same for Tokyo 2020 bronze medallists Aaron-Wooi Yik.
This can enable Tang Jie-Ee Wei to compete under the radar in Paris, and deliver a surprise like what Liu Ying-Peng Soon did.