NANJING, Aug 23- Cheam June Wei contributed Malaysia’s first gold medal at the 2nd Youth Olympic Games (YOG 2014) in the international mixed doubles event at the Gymnasium Sports Centre near here Friday.
The 17-year-old ended a six-day wait for Malaysia’s first gold medal at this edition of the Games when he and his partner Ng Tsz Yau, from Hong Kong, defeated Japan-Taiwan pair Tsuneyama Kanta/Lee Chia Hsin 21-14 and 23-21 in the final which lasted 35 minutes.
The bronze was shared by Angoda Vidanalage (Sri Lanka) and He Bingjio (China). The duo defeated Narongrit Mek (Thailand) /Qin Jinjing (China) 21-16 and 21-18 in the bronze decider.
Cheam who was overjoyed by the success said the victory was not his alone but one to be shared by all Malaysians who had been solidly behind the national congtingent.
“Obviously, as a Malaysian, I am very proud and fortunate to deliver Malaysia’s first gold medal at YOG 2014 and I hope to find more success in future,” he told Bernama afterwards.
Cheam admitted that he was a “little bit down” after losing 22-20, 18-21 and 12-21 to Joshi Aditiya of India in the men’s singles quarter-finals on Wednesday.“I realised that my performance in the men’s singles was not up to the mark, that was why I was feeling down after the loss in the quarter-finals,” he said, adding that he intended to make amends by training even harder.
Asked if he planned to concentrate more on the mixed doubles after this, he replied in the negative saying that he was more keen on the singles.He also expressed his thanks to his coach Zhou Kejin for building him up to this level.
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s chef-de-mission to the Games, Wong Pei Tty described the win as bonus for Malaysia as the National Sports Council had not set any medal target for this event.
“I hope the national athletes will contribute more medals as there are still many events left,” she said.
– BERNAMA
