SHAH ALAM, 4 Aug: The national men’s doubles, Tan Wee Kiong and Goh V Shem, and the national women’s doubles, Vivian Khoo-Woon Khee Wei, delivered the fifth and sixth gold medals for Malaysia when the won in the finals for their respective events yesterday.
Wee Kiong and Goh V Shem managed to maintain the tradition by defending the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games.
In the final match, Wee Kiong-V Shem started strong with 1-0 in the first set, with 21-12 defeating Danny Chirsnata-Chayut Triyachart from Singapore.
However, Danny-Chayut leveled the score with 1-1 when they put pressure on Wee Kiong-V Shem with 21-12.
The determining match witnessed Wee Kiong and V Shem coming on aggressively to finish the match with 21-15 in the last match which took place at the Emirates Arena, Glasgow.
Wee Kiong said that he was happy alongside V Shem and that they were able to defend tha gold medal in the badminton men’s doubles since 1990 through the Jalani Sidek-Razif Sidek pair-up.
Cheah Soon Kit-Soon Beng Kiang won the gold medal in 1994, Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah (1998), Chan Chong Ming-Chew Choon Eng (2002), Chan Chong Ming-Koo Kien Keat (2006) and Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong (2010).
“We are very happy to have contributed a gold medal to the country and more importantly maintain the tradition of winning at the Commonwealth Games.
“We hope to maintain the momentum when playing in the BWF World Championships in Denmark later this month,” he said, quoted from BERNAMA.
The bronze medal went to Chris Langridge/Peter Mills who beat their fellow countrymen Chris Adcock/Andrew Ellis 21-17, 21-17 in an all-England affair, yesterday.
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s Vivian Khoo-Woon Khe Wei grabbed the gold medal in style in the women’s badminton doubles event at the Emirates Arena, Sunday on the last day of the 20th Commonwealth Games.
In the dramatic match, Vivian-Khe Wei tamed the Indian pair of Jwala Gutta-Ashwini Ponnanppa 21-17 in the first set.
The win inspired the Malaysian pair to block Jwala-Ashwini in a tight second set 23-21 in 41 minutes.
The bronze was won by the English pair of Gabriel Adcock-Lauren Smith who beat another Malaysian pair of Lim Pei Jing-Lim Yin Loo 16-21, 21-15 and 21-16 on Saturday.
Vivian said the hard work and diligence in analysing the game of their opponents had helped them in winning the gold.
“We are very happy with the victory. The win is most meaningful. This gold medal is also dedicated to all Malaysians especially as we are now grieving over the MH17 tragedy.
“Of course, we were confident and inspired right from the first set and wanted to focus on winning only. What is important is not to place pressure on ourselves,” she said.
Their win gave the Malaysian contingent its fifth gold medal, after the one won by Mohd. Hafifi Mansor (wightlifting), Datuk Nicol Ann David (squash, singles), badminton mixed team, and national diver Ooi Tze Liang’s gold in the 3m men’s individual springboard event.
NS
