Former national squash athlete Sharon Wee believes that Malaysia has pool of good players coming up the ranks, though none of them are outstanding.
The likes of Nicol David and Ong Beng Hee have consistently raised the bar for Malaysian squash over the past few years and the apparent concern for most is whether we’d be able to produce players of their stature, to continue flying the Malaysian flag on the international squash scene.
While Sharon is inclined to praise the efforts of the Squash Racket Association of Malaysia (SRAM) in continuously working hard to produce good players through the youth development system, she does think that the nation is struggling to manufacture outstanding talents.
“We have good players, but they do not stand out,” she told FourthOfficial.com
“There are thousands of players so you need the extra recipe and extra edge. If you don’t have it, you would not be able to produce on the court.”
“Times has changed. People are more focused on education and they slowly drift apart from the sport after a certain point. More universities are giving scholarships as well.”
“But to be honest, education wouldn’t affect the players if they knew what they wanted and managed time carefully. I studied as well, and I still continued to play.”
But the 3-time World Team Championship bronze medalist was quick to heap praises on Low Wee Wern, who is widely regarded as the second best player in the country, after Nicol David.
Wee Wern has consistently impressed on the international scene and even reached a career high world ranking of No. 5 back in October 2014. And as far as Sharon is concerned, she certainly has what it takes to do well on the international scene.
“Low Wee Wern is mostly known as a patient player on the court and she is also extremely fit. Somehow, she has that extra aura about her when she comes in,” Sharon added.
Photo Credits: sports.digitalfive
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