I still remember that Sunday evening, 5th Aug 2012, the mall was closing. I was on my way to the carpark when I saw a group of people glued to the LCD screen at an eatery. It was the badminton finals, Lee Cheong Wei vs. Lin Dan, in the 2012 London Olympics. I approached the crowd and it was quite a scene to behold.
Heads were swinging back and forth with the shuttlecock. Cina, Melayu, India, Lain-lain, the not-so-youngs & the not-so-olds were oohing & aahing in unison. LCW didn’t win gold that night. but he did win the silver medal. Most importantly, he won the hearts of Malaysians that night for giving his all.
Fast forward to Friday evening 19 Aug 2016, it was the badminton semi-finals, Lee Chong Wei vs. Lin Dan again, in the 2016 Rio Olympics. After work, me & my girlfriends went to Pavi’s TGIF for dinner (those were the glory days when the restaurant were full of people) & we reserved a sweet spot in front of the LCD screen.
And this time LCW won the game. Everybody in the restaurant were clapping & cheering ecstatically (esp me when they took off their shirts =D).
LCW eventually won another silver for the country that year. But how he managed to bring the country together in unison every time, cheering, clapping, oohing & aahing together is no doubt, Gold.
Bimbo
