Joy and praise as Malaysian duo secures bronze in epic badminton showdown at Paris Olympics

PETALING JAYA: Malaysians erupted in joy after the country’s badminton men’s doubles clawed back to clinch the bronze medal in a heart-stopping game at the Paris Olympics.

Taking to social media, many netizens also praised the ‘fighting spirit’ of Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik for their comeback against their opponents.

One Facebook user, Eric Poh, described their fighting spirit as “bukan main-main punya” (serious) and thanked the pair for “letting us see our Jalur Gemilang fly up high in the arena.”

“Give them both 1 Million..they deserve it,” said June Hamid.

Also writing on Facebook, Mohamed Asri Zaini thanked the duo for the “mini heart attack.

“I was (in) palpitation throughout the games. My heart literally stopped at the end 2nd set.

“Skipped heart beats whole 3rd set and u guys did it. Making me proud to be Malaysian. You guys are our heroes!! It was the greatest games!!,” he wrote.

On Instagram, a user who went by the handle @wiyahae congratulated the pair and wrote: “Now nak cari donor untuk jantung baru (Now looking for a heart donor).”

“Naik turun heart rate jantungku…(My heart rate went up and down. congratulations!!!!!” wrote @nur_ain_mg on Instagram.

The Malaysians came back from the brink of defeat to pull off a superb 16-21, 22-20, 21-19 win against World No 2 Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark to claim the bronze medal at the Adidas Arena in Port de la Chapelle on Sunday.

Earlier, many Malaysians were left disappointed after men’s singles Lee Zii Jia lost in the semi-finals against Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn, the reigning world champion.

Rajiv RK Nair described the match as a “truly a come-from-behind win.”

“Aaron & Soh, you have made us Malaysians proud of you and your accomplishment tonight with your never-say-die spirit.

“You have also defended the bronze medal that you won in Tokyo,” he wrote on Facebook.

But Facebook user Mike Pong described it best when he said:”Despite it a bronze medal, it felt like gold.”