Sin Chew Daily

Malaysia's badminton men's doubles Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik beat Indonesia's Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan 2-1 to win the country's first medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The whole nation was cheering in jubilation as the Malaysian pair took down Indonesia's number two seed.

Against the backdrop of a raging coronavirus pandemic with the economic outlook continuously bleak, Malaysians increasingly feel the stress as they are confined at home. It has been some time since we last heard an uplifting piece of news. All we have are endless sighs and grumbles gazing at the steadily increasing daily new infection numbers.

In the midst of such a depressing atmosphere, our men's doubles Aaron and Wooi Yik were under unspeakable pressure to take home a medal in a convincing display of gallantry and powerful fighting spirit, bringing much cheer to the otherwise gloomy Malaysian society.

The pair's journey in the Olympics has never been a smooth one to start with. They had to fight two very tough battles in group matches, challenging higher ranked Koreans Choi Sol-gyu and Seo Seung-jae and Indonesia's number two seed Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan by whom the Malaysian pair were defeated at group level.

In the quarterfinals, they surprisingly beat in two straight games Indonesia's world number one Kevin Sukamuljo and Marcus Gideon whom they had never won a single match in their previous seven meetings.

In the bronze medal playoff, they met Ahsan/Setiawan again, managing to strike an equalizer after losing the first game and onward to win the decisive game and an unexpected bronze medal for Malaysia.

Aaron and Wooi Yik's victory does not just belong to these two young players but also all Malaysians whose spirits have been buoyed by the triumph.

More than a year into the pandemic, coupled with the recent political turmoil and the resulting glum prevalent in our society, the Malaysian pair has gone against the odds to take down their opponents one after another. The joy that they brought should inspire all of us to be constantly motivated to face the coronavirus in heightened spirits and not to crack under pressure. The tougher the enemy, the stronger we will get, as we vow to give our best shots to win this war and end the pandemic.

In that evening, Malaysians irrespective of race stood united to cheer for our national players.

They fought for the country's glory as the entire nation was cheering for them at home. Congratulatory messages in various languages flooded the social media the moment the victory was sealed, a manifestation of the true 1Malaysia spirit!

Malaysia has not just won a bronze medal, through this match we have managed to bring all Malaysians from different cultural backgrounds together in a rare display of unity. This is Malaysian diversity at its most glorious, and indeed an embodiment of our future.