ANN/THE STAR – As accolades continue to pour in for the men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik after their bronze medal win at the Paris Olympics, badminton icon Datuk Lee Chong Wei expressed a heartfelt wish for their future success.
Chong Wei hopes that Aaron and Wooi Yik’s next medal will be of a different colour, aiming for them to surpass his own achievements.
“I don’t want you to be like me with three medals of the same colour. For your next medal, I pray it’s a different colour,” Chong Wei said.
As Malaysia’s most decorated Olympian, Chong Wei boasts three silver medals from the 2008 Beijing, 2012 London, and 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. Aaron and Wooi Yik, meanwhile, now have two bronze medals, including their previous win at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Chong Wei praised Aaron-Wooi Yik for their resilience in fighting back against Denmark’s Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen in the bronze medal match on Sunday.
The Malaysians clawed their way back to win 16-21, 22-20, 21-19 against the Danes and gifted Malaysia its first medal in Paris. The turning point was when they had trailed16-20 in the second game but saved four match points and went on to win.
“What a game! First Olympic medal for Malaysia! So proud of you boys,” said Chong Wei. “The second game, most people would think it’s a lost cause. But both of you never gave up, and you crawled back, point by point, and made us proud.”
