KUALA LUMPUR: After her praise-worthy performance, an emotional Goh Jin Wei apologised to Malaysian fans today for missing out on the Olympic last 16 by a whisker.
The 24-year-old broke into tears following her 17-21, 22-20, 23-21 defeat to world No. 17 Kim Ga Eun of South Korea, a match she couldn't close out despite holding a two-match point at 20-18 in the rubber game.
If anything, Jin Wei deserved plenty of credits as she had also fought back from the brink in the second game, saving a match point at 20-19 to force Ga Eun to play in the decider.
In the rubber, despite a slow start, Jin Wei was 13-18 down, but managed to reach match point. But it was Ga Eun who managed the crucial stages better to prevail.
"I had the chance (to win) but I could not see it out," lamented world No. 32 Jin Wei.
"Ga Eun managed the pressure better in the match today.
"There's no excuse whatsoever, the defeat was due to my own mistakes. I will watch the recording of today's match and identify the areas that I can improve on."
The defeat saw Jin Wei finish second to Ga Eun in Group H, paving way for the latter to advance to the last-16 stage as winner in the three-woman pool. The other player in the group was world No. 103 Johanita Scholtz of South Africa, who lost to both Jin Wei and Ga Eun.
The best-ever outing by a Malaysian shuttler in the Olympic women's singles event was by Wong Mew Choo, who finished as quarter-finalist in Beijing 2008.
It remains to be seen if that was going to be surpassed in the near future, but if there's one player who probably could do so, it is perhaps still Jin Wei.
At 24, Jin Wei has plenty of good years ahead of her. If she keeps on making progress under coach Nova Armada, she would be a force to reckon with by the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
"I will keep on fighting. I'll take this as a life lesson. I will rectify all my weaknesses for my future challenges, but for now I just want to take a rest first," she said.
Jin Wei has accomplished her ambition of becoming an Olympian, and her journey has been nothing but remarkable.
This was despite Jin Wei, once touted as the next women's singles star, has not been the same player since undergoing colectomy surgery in 2019.
Jin Wei found it difficult to cope with the national team's strict training regime, which eventually led to her announcing her retirement from the sport in 2021. It's public knowledge that Jin Wei had a stomach ailment, which needed her to undergo surgery.
Since turning professional in early 2022, Jin Wei has fought her way up from a lowly No. 128 in 2022 to now being a world's top 35 player again.
Jin Wei enjoyed an illustrious junior career which saw her win almost every major title. Apart from her two world junior crowns, she also became Malaysia's first gold medallist at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2018.
Nova, who could not accompany Jin Wei to Paris due to shortage of official accreditation, was proud of the latter. "I would give her nine marks out of possible 10," said Nova.
"She gave everything she could but unfortunately, luck was not on her side. Her performance did not surprise me at all. When we first saw the draw, I knew she had what it takes to overcome Ga Eun, and in fact we're even looking at reaching the quarter-finals because Gregoria (Mariska Tunjung, potential last-16 rival) is someone Jin Wei capable of beating."