NATIONAL junior shuttler Cheam June Wei became Malaysia’s first ever Youth Olympic Games (YOG) gold medalist, following his victory in the mixed doubles event with partner Ng Tsz Yau from Hong Kong in Nanjing, China yesterday.
The medal, however, will not be counted as Malaysia’s first gold at the Games as the mixed doubles competition is an event that has pairs made up of athletes representing different national Olympic committees (NOCs).
In the final yesterday, June Wei-Tsz Yau defeated Japan’s Kanta Tsuneyama and Taiwan’s Lee Chia Hsin 21-14, 23-21.
The bronze medal went to Sri Lanka’s S.P.D Angoda Vidanalage and China’s He Bingjiao.
This is the first time that badminton has included the mixed doubles event at the YOG.
June Wei’s victory also makes up for his defeat to India’s No 1 junior Aditya Joshi in the quarter-finals of the individual event on Wednesday..
It was a disappointing outing, however, for girls’ singles Lee Ying Ying who did not make it past the group stage in the individual event.
Ying Ying, who partnered Taiwan’s Lu Chia Hung in the mixed doubles, lost to June Wei-Tsz Yau in the quarter-finals on Wednesday. By Fabian Peter