No pain, no gain
Wai Kin battles through pain barrier to win second gold
THE old adage of “no pain, no gain” proved true for national wushu exponent Yeap Wai
Kin.
The 24-year-old exe- cuted his moves through the pain barrier to bag his second wushu gold.
Wai Kin suffered a recurrence of an old shoulder injury during his gold-winning performance in the men’s jianshu (sword) on Sunday.
But he ignored the nagging pain and rose to the challenge to win the men’s qiangshu (spear) gold at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre yesterday.
Penang-born Wai Kin scored 9.68 points while his training partner and good friend Wong Weng Son again settled for the silver with 9.65. Indonesian Muhammad Daffa Golden Boy won the bronze with 9.63.
“I did not expect to win actually as I injured my right shoulder during Sunday’s performance. It’s n not good to get injured at this stage but I shut it out.
“I told myself that this was the time for me to stay focused and fight. “A National Sports Institute (ISN) physiotherapist was on hand to treat me .
“This gold is for the country andan the people behind our team. Without their help, I’m nothing.
“I will compete in the men’s changquan (barehands) on the final day tomorrow (today) and I will definitely give it my best shot,” said Wai Kin, who won two silvers at the 2013 World Championships in Kuala Lumpur. Yesterday’s gold was the fourth in wushu for Malaysia. The other two golds came from Loh Jack Chang (men’s taijijian) and Diana Bong (women’s nanquan).
Phoon Eyin also picked up her second silver in the women’s qiangshu yesterday.
She scored 9.66 points to again finish behind Duong Thuy Vi, who earned 9.67 points to collect her second gold.
Eyin had also finished behind the Vietnamese in jianshu on Sunday.
Malaysia also bagged a bronze yesterday through Khaw Jun Lim in the men’s daoshu and gunshu combined (19.29).