A straight set defeat for Chong Wei in final

Photo by AFP

RIO DE JANEIRO: Malaysia has blown away the best chance ever for a gold medal at the Olympics as the Rio Games draws its curtain on Sunday.

Malaysia had three finalists in badminton but none of them made it, with flag-bearer Datuk Lee Chong Wei bowing out of his final Olympic with a silver in the men’s singles.

Besides Chong Wei, the men’s doubles, Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong and mixed pair, Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying never came close for the gold as all of them lost the final battle to better opponents.

Diving queen Pandelela Rinong and Cheong Jun Hoong set the gold medal chase for Malaysia with an opening silver medal in the synchronised 10m platform.

Cyclist Azizulhasni Awang, with eight years of training and studying in Melbourne, Australia, finally clinched a medal at the Olympics with a bronze in the keirin race.

Winning four silvers and a bronze at the Rio Games is not a big deal as Malaysia’s 60-year-old wait for a gold medal since the 1956 Melbourne Games remains elusive.

Although the medal collection improved after a silver and bronze at the 2012 London Olympics, Malaysia’s failure to produce an Olympic champion in Rio override the five medals in hand.

Despite describing the Rio outing with 32 athletes as “having done extremely well in medal haul”, chef-de-mission Tan Sri Mohamed Al Amin Abdul Majid’s facial expression was tinged with sadness.

“The gold still remains elusive,” said Al Amin after Chong Wei lost 21-18, 21-18 to Chen Long of China for the gold medal.

Malaysia’s neigbhours Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and even another ASEAN member, Vietnam all returned home with a gold medal each with Thailand two.

Joseph Schooling won Singapore’s first-ever Olympic gold medal after winning the 100m butterfly event, upstaging American icon Michael Phelps with a new Olympic record.

The 21-year-old swimming sensation smashed Phelps’s record of 50.58s set at the 2008 Beijing Games with a new time of 50.39s.

Apart from Malaysia’s medallists, others failed or just passed the border mark with golfers Danny Chia, Gavin Kyle Green, Michelle Koh and Kelly Tan buried at the bottom.

Danny Chia and Gavin finished 47th and 48th respectively among the 60 golfers in the men’s individual, while Kelly was on 51st and Michelle on 58th spot in the women’s category.

Among others who failed to meet the mark are high jumper Nauraj Singh Randhawa who failed to qualify for the final when he cleared 2.26m while his national record was 2.29m.

Wildcard entrant, Zaidatul Husniah Zulklifi clocked a poor 12.12s in the 100m qualifying heat and 12.62s in the first-round heats.

In shooting, our sole representive, Johnathan Wong Guanjie finished 28th in the 10m air pistol with 547 points and ended 37th in the 50m air pistol with 535 points.

Archery was the biggest flop when the men’s recurve team failed to get past the elimination round and the trio – Khairul Anuar Mohamad, Haziq Kamaruddin and Muhammad Akmal Nor Hasrin – were nowhere near the podium.

Sailing was another major setback when Khairulnizam Mohd Afendy finished 35th in the men’s Laser Standard and Nur Shazrin Mohammad Latif in 33rd in the women’s Laser Radial race.

Four years down the road for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Malaysia cannot depend on oldguards as Chong Wei, now aged 33, will not be competing.

The relevant sports authorities have some soul-searching to do to find out how, who and when to produce an Olympic champion as millions of ringgit are poured into the sports development programme.

Will the Podium Programme, specially-tailored for handpicked athletes to be groomed for the World Championships, Asian and Olympic Games be able to produce an Olympic champion at the Tokyo Games. – Bernama