Riolympics 2016.
See what I did there?
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Sooooooooo, an event that happens once every four years. It should be something to look forward tobut somehow there wasn't much hype before it began.
One thing was my family didn't have an Astro anymore so it's a bit difficult to tune in to watch the games, and I tried looking for ways to watch it live on the internet but I didn't really try hard enough I guess.
The only event I'm really interested in, and like most Malaysians are, is badminton.
Our national hero, Dato Lee Chong Wei is going for the gold once again but seriously we don't really expect things to go well but we don't blame him anyway 'cause he already won our hearts.
What really surprised me is that there are two other Malaysian teams that made it into the finals. Mixed doubles and men's doubles. I knew we had to support our country, even if our chances our slim.
Thanks to a friend, we managed to watch live stream on a website that is surprisingly smooth.
The first event we watched was the finals for the mixed doubles. Our country's Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying is facing against Indonesian's veteran team, Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir. Before the match, this Malaysian team was ranked 72 if I'm not mistaken. So the fact that they made into the finals was a shock.
It was probably obvious, but in the end the Indonesians won. Still, the country's really proud of them and their achievement.
On the next day, there's the semi-finals for men's single and the finals for the men's double.
The semi-finals was really the show that everyone wanted to watch as it's the match between the two greatest rivals of all times, Dato Lee Chong Wei and Lin Dan. It's kinda unfitting for them to meet in the semi-finals but we're all nervous anyway.
For each score we cheered and scream (at least my family did) and it was so nerve wrecking because they taking turns to score until it was finally 20-20 at the third match. Freaking 20-20. That doesn't always happen, my poor heart couldn't take it.
But he did it, he went against the odds and finally beat his long time rival. Dato Lee Chong Wei triumphed and was on his way to gold. Me and my mom was jumping around like happy bunnies.
We used our energy so much that while waiting for the men's double to start, both me and my mom fell asleep. But it's okay, we didn't oversleep.
The men's double was certainly something I did not expect. When we thought things couldn't get more interesting than the previous match, it did.
Who would have known that Malaysia's team Tan Wee Kiong and Goh V Shem could give China's Zhang Nan and Fu Haifeng a hard time at the court. I'm pretty sure both teams are equally nervous, as I see their hands shake as they served.
Malaysia had it, they could have won as they were leading as the match is near its end. But our poor babies are so nervous, I bet they didn't even dream they could reach so far. Being in front of a crowd, facing a strong opponent and all of their training comes down to this point. I can't possibly imagine the pressure that was on their shoulder as people are hoping for Malaysia's first gold.
Sadly, the intense match ended with a 21-23, with China taking the gold. I remember having the feeling of disappointment wash over me, similar to the feeling when Dato LCW lost in the London's Olympics. But I stayed to watch our heroes get their medals, because I was still impressed they made it so far and showed us a great match.
The finals for the men's single was on the next day. The bronze medal match took place before the gold's. I just watched as I was waiting.
Lin Dan was against Denmark's Viktor Axelsen, and I thought, bah, Lin Dan's going to win. I think all of my expectations are proven wrong this year. Lin Dan lost to the Chinese-speaking Axelson surprisingly. But I think it was more of Lin Dan not putting his all into the match.
And the moment we were waiting for, the finals. Dato LCW was going against Chen Long.
Initially, I was positive our national hero could win him as he won him many times before, unlike losing to Lin Dan so many times. But my mom told me that Chen Long is stronger now, and we shouldn't keep our hopes too high up.
All it took was two matches as we watch our hero struggled to score. I couldn't bear to watch the screen when Chen Long only need 1 score to win the gold. It wasn't a close match, so it didn't hurt as much.
I noticed that the two rivals Dato LCW and Lin Dan weren't as full of energy as before. It's not like they're not trying their best, but it's like they lost the fire in their eyes. Probably it's old age, or maybe they realized their prime time is almost over.
The internet circulated a letter from Lin Dan to Dato LCW (I don't know if it's legit as I didn't find the source), talking about their rivalry as well as their friendship. And Lin Dan admitted that it is probably time to let go, as there are younger ones taking over the court. It was a sweet message, talking about how Dato LCW was a great rival and he was so proud to face him in the court many times.
EDIT: The letter was fake.
And thus our hopes of gold is dashed. Our badminton team took all silvers, something not our country was expected to do. Rather than being disappointed, all Malaysians felt proud of our athletes and was expressing their pride and joy on social media.
For me, I'm not sad anymore but I'm just wondering how will the next Olympics be like. Will our athletes prove themselves again and make our country proud? Dato LCW is probably going to retire, and is anyone going to be as good as him?
We'll just have to see for ourselves, four years later.
---
My internship is starting soon. Like tomorrow.
I don't know what to expect, but I hope the next three months will be decently okay. It's okay if it's not awesome, but I just want it to be okay.
Let things be okay
---
Sooooooooo, an event that happens once every four years. It should be something to look forward tobut somehow there wasn't much hype before it began.
One thing was my family didn't have an Astro anymore so it's a bit difficult to tune in to watch the games, and I tried looking for ways to watch it live on the internet but I didn't really try hard enough I guess.
The only event I'm really interested in, and like most Malaysians are, is badminton.
Our national hero, Dato Lee Chong Wei is going for the gold once again but seriously we don't really expect things to go well but we don't blame him anyway 'cause he already won our hearts.
What really surprised me is that there are two other Malaysian teams that made it into the finals. Mixed doubles and men's doubles. I knew we had to support our country, even if our chances our slim.
Thanks to a friend, we managed to watch live stream on a website that is surprisingly smooth.
The first event we watched was the finals for the mixed doubles. Our country's Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying is facing against Indonesian's veteran team, Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir. Before the match, this Malaysian team was ranked 72 if I'm not mistaken. So the fact that they made into the finals was a shock.
It was probably obvious, but in the end the Indonesians won. Still, the country's really proud of them and their achievement.
On the next day, there's the semi-finals for men's single and the finals for the men's double.
The semi-finals was really the show that everyone wanted to watch as it's the match between the two greatest rivals of all times, Dato Lee Chong Wei and Lin Dan. It's kinda unfitting for them to meet in the semi-finals but we're all nervous anyway.
For each score we cheered and scream (at least my family did) and it was so nerve wrecking because they taking turns to score until it was finally 20-20 at the third match. Freaking 20-20. That doesn't always happen, my poor heart couldn't take it.
But he did it, he went against the odds and finally beat his long time rival. Dato Lee Chong Wei triumphed and was on his way to gold. Me and my mom was jumping around like happy bunnies.
We used our energy so much that while waiting for the men's double to start, both me and my mom fell asleep. But it's okay, we didn't oversleep.
The men's double was certainly something I did not expect. When we thought things couldn't get more interesting than the previous match, it did.
Who would have known that Malaysia's team Tan Wee Kiong and Goh V Shem could give China's Zhang Nan and Fu Haifeng a hard time at the court. I'm pretty sure both teams are equally nervous, as I see their hands shake as they served.
Malaysia had it, they could have won as they were leading as the match is near its end. But our poor babies are so nervous, I bet they didn't even dream they could reach so far. Being in front of a crowd, facing a strong opponent and all of their training comes down to this point. I can't possibly imagine the pressure that was on their shoulder as people are hoping for Malaysia's first gold.
Sadly, the intense match ended with a 21-23, with China taking the gold. I remember having the feeling of disappointment wash over me, similar to the feeling when Dato LCW lost in the London's Olympics. But I stayed to watch our heroes get their medals, because I was still impressed they made it so far and showed us a great match.
The finals for the men's single was on the next day. The bronze medal match took place before the gold's. I just watched as I was waiting.
Lin Dan was against Denmark's Viktor Axelsen, and I thought, bah, Lin Dan's going to win. I think all of my expectations are proven wrong this year. Lin Dan lost to the Chinese-speaking Axelson surprisingly. But I think it was more of Lin Dan not putting his all into the match.
And the moment we were waiting for, the finals. Dato LCW was going against Chen Long.
Initially, I was positive our national hero could win him as he won him many times before, unlike losing to Lin Dan so many times. But my mom told me that Chen Long is stronger now, and we shouldn't keep our hopes too high up.
All it took was two matches as we watch our hero struggled to score. I couldn't bear to watch the screen when Chen Long only need 1 score to win the gold. It wasn't a close match, so it didn't hurt as much.
I noticed that the two rivals Dato LCW and Lin Dan weren't as full of energy as before. It's not like they're not trying their best, but it's like they lost the fire in their eyes. Probably it's old age, or maybe they realized their prime time is almost over.
The internet circulated a letter from Lin Dan to Dato LCW (I don't know if it's legit as I didn't find the source), talking about their rivalry as well as their friendship. And Lin Dan admitted that it is probably time to let go, as there are younger ones taking over the court. It was a sweet message, talking about how Dato LCW was a great rival and he was so proud to face him in the court many times.
EDIT: The letter was fake.
And thus our hopes of gold is dashed. Our badminton team took all silvers, something not our country was expected to do. Rather than being disappointed, all Malaysians felt proud of our athletes and was expressing their pride and joy on social media.
For me, I'm not sad anymore but I'm just wondering how will the next Olympics be like. Will our athletes prove themselves again and make our country proud? Dato LCW is probably going to retire, and is anyone going to be as good as him?
We'll just have to see for ourselves, four years later.
---
My internship is starting soon. Like tomorrow.
I don't know what to expect, but I hope the next three months will be decently okay. It's okay if it's not awesome, but I just want it to be okay.
Let things be okay
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