KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 5 — National squash legend and Malaysia’s deputy Olympics chef de mission Datuk Nicol David praised the achievement of men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik in lifting the nation’s first medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics yesterday.
The national shuttlers defeated Denmark’s Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen in a close fight to win the bronze medal match 16-21, 22-20, 21-19 at the Porte de La Chapelle Arena.
In a message on Facebook, Nicol wrote, “What a comeback! This is a Malaysian Olympic history of comebacks that have never been done before.
“Such a show of true grit and experience to come back from 20-16 down in the second set with 4 match points against them and being courageous to fight til the very end.
She credited their experience in winning a bronze medal at Tokyo 2020, where the pair defeated former world champions Mohamad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan from Indonesia, in bringing home a second bronze medal in Paris.
“Words can’t describe how proud I am to see the fight in our Malaysian boys to take on this challenge to win our first medal at the Olympic Games,” she added.
The former world number one squash player also said the win “has inspired our nation to keep on pushing towards our dreams and belief of bigger things to come!”
Thanking them on the behalf of all Malaysians, Nicol ended the post saying it was “an honour to witness this amazing display of sheer grit and fight from you both.”
