Leaders, netizens congratulate mixed doubles pair for making Rio final

KUALA LUMPUR: The social media has gone abuzz a f ter Malaysian badminton mixed doubles pair Goh Liu Ying/ Chan Peng Soon made it to the final in the Rio Olympic Games.

Malaysians from al l walks of life took to the social media like Twitter and Facebook to express their happiness and to congratulate the duo for beating China’s Xu Chen/ Ma Jin 21- 13, 21- 19 in the semifinals yesterday.

Among those who we r e extremely proud of the duo’s success was Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak who applauded their effort while giving words of encouragement for the pair to achieve greater success in the final.

“Congratulations Chan Peng Soon & @ gohliuying for taking Malaysia to the final! What a performance! Just a step away f rom a gold medal ,” Najib twitted yesterday.

Also sharing t he joy via Twitter was Youth and Sports Minister, Khairy Jamaluddin who inserted a video of him congratulating the pair after the match whi le at the same time motivating them to strive for excellence.

“With our mixed doubles after the semis. So proud of them. I told them, don’t be satisfied with f inal . GO FOR GOLD. Medal number two guaranteed! Mixed doubles beat China in semis. Into the FINAL!!! Make it GOLD! ,” Khairy said in his tweet.

The veteran combinat ion for almost six years will play against Indonesia’s Tontowi Ahmad/ Liliyana Natsir at 11.30 tonight ( Malaysian time).

In the meantime, Facebook user Rosal ind Cheah said: ‘ Congrats to Chan Peng Soon & Goh Liu Ying! You have made the country proud, the BAM proud and most importantly yourself and your family proud’. Another Facebook user, Pisang Raja posted: ‘ Our men’s doubles and mixed doubles beat higher ranked opponents.

Our men march into the semis and our mixed doubles are in the final. We hope for gold but the silver is already in the bag.. Malaysia Boleh !!!.’

Also in the limelight among netizens were Malaysian men’s doubles pair Goh V Shem/ Tan Wee Kiong who qualified for the men’s doubles semifinals after stunning South Korea’s world number one pair Lee Yong Dae/ Yoon Yeon Seong 17- 21, 21- 18, 21-19. — Bernama