It’s Olympic silver for mixed doubles pair Peng Soon-Liu Ying

Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying have won the silver medal at the Rio Olympics in the badmintion mixed doubles category.

There was slight disappointment as Malaysians had hoped the pair could deliver the country’s first ever gold medal at the Rio Olympics but had to settle for second place after being defeated by Indonesia in the final.

The highly spirited duo lost to Indonesia’s Tontowi Ahmad-Liliyana Natsir 21-14 and 21-12.

The Malaysian pair got off to a shaky start in the first set as the Indonesian team managed to quickly put a comfortable distance in score.

However, Peng Soon and Liu Ying managed to put up a more even match at the beginning of the second sey but the Indonesians still managed to pull ahead.

At one point, the Malaysian team were just one point behind the Indonesians at 9-10 but the latter picked up their game and pulled ahead to 11-17.

Peng Soon and Liu Ying, who were more on the defensive, were pressured by the aggressive gameplay of their opponents.

Nonetheless, Peng Soon and Liu Ying achieved a respectable feat, having entered the games as underdogs and surprised many when they made it into the final.

According to Bernama, the national mixed pair made tremendous strides to reach the final after peng Soon first partnered Liu Ying Goh in 2009.

However, the pair went on hiatus in 2014 as Liu Ying underwent a knee surgery to fix her aggravating knee and make a comeback after a 11 month break.

A year after being paired, the mixed pair won the Asian Championships in 2010 and went on to win two gold medals in the 2010 and 2014 Commonwealth Games.

While Malaysians will now look to badminton men’s doubles Goh V Shem dan Tan Wee Kiong to deliver Malaysia’s first ever Olympic gold medal, Peng Soon and Liu Ying have made history in their own right.

All previous Olympic medals won by Malaysia’s badminton athletes have been in the men’s singles or men’s doubles category.

Malaysia is also banking on its men’s singles player Lee Chong Wei to deliver a gold medal but he must first clear the semi-finals hurdle when he goes up against China’s Lin Dan in the semi-finals.

Peng Soon and Liu Ying’s silver medal is also Malaysia’s second at the Rio Olympics after Pandelela Rinong and Cheong Jun Hoong secured a silver medal in diving under the women’s synchronised 10m platform category.

This makes Malaysia’s best ever Olympics performance as the country had never won more than one silver medal.

Azizulhasni Awang yesterday also made history with Malaysia’s first ever cycling medal at the Olympics, taking bronze in the men’s keirin.

In the men’s doubles final, V Shem-Wee Kiong will take on Chinese pair Fu Haifeng and Zhang Nan at 10.50pm (Malaysian time) in Friday’s final.