Goh Liu Ying and Chan Peng Soon’s journey to the Olympic Games was kind of a low-key affair.
For one, expectations weren’t very high to begin with for the badminton mixed doubles pair who went to the London Olympics four years ago and came home without a single win.
Then, of course, when it comes to badminton, all eyes are usually on golden boy Lee Chong Wei, whom many believe will deliver the country’s first ever gold medal in the Olympics.
But that all that changed in 45 minutes on Monday when Goh Liu Ying-Chan Peng Soon created history by becoming the first ever Malaysian mixed doubles pair to reach the final of the Olympic Games.
The gutsy pair pulled off a hard-fought 21-13, 21-19 win over China’s Xu Chen-Ma Jin — silver medalists at the London Olympics — in the semi-finals.
The victory was a little more memorable for Goh-Chan as it was only their third win over the Chinese pair in ten meetings.
With the win, they are guaranteed at least a silver medal at this year’s outing.
“We still can’t believe that we are in the final. We had dreamed of this but to have actually done it is an amazing feeling.
“We knew we had a chance as the China pair were under as much pressure as we were. We told ourselves that we had to keep focused and minimise our mistakes,” Chan was quoted by The New Straits Times as saying.
With the gold medal within their grasp, both Goh and Chan know that the final will be a much tougher challenge.
They will face off against Indonesia’s world number three mixed doubles pair Tontowi Ahmad-Liliyana Natsir in their final match at the Rio Olympics.
Tontowi-Liliyana defeated China’s Zhang Nan-Zhao Yunlei 21-16, 21-15 in their thrilling semi-final match.
Goh and Chan lost to the Indonesian pair in the group match, but Goh hopes that the result will be different on Wednesday.
“The final will be another challenge as we lost to the Indonesians in the group stage but we will prepare well and give it our best,” she was quoted as saying.
