KUALA LUMPUR: Deputy chef de mission Datuk Nicol David, who is a former eight-time world squash champion, didn't expect to see something extraordinary like this in Paris.
Known as a fighter with steely determination in her heyday, Nicol, 40, saluted men's badminton pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik for their amazing fightback to win the Olympic bronze medal in Paris yesterday.
World No. 3 Aaron-Wooi Yik came back from the dead to beat Denmark's world No. 2 Anders Skaarup Rasmusen-Kim Astrup 16-21, 22-20, 21-19 for Malaysia's first Olympic medal in Paris.
Nicol praised the 2022 world champions for the way they recovered from a first-game loss and 16-20 match-point deficit in the second to win the rubber game.
"This is a historic comeback from Malaysians at the Olympics and has never been done before," said Nicol in a post on her Facebook page.
"Such a show of true grit and experience to come back from 16-20 down in the second set with four match points against them, and being courageous enough to fight till the very end.
"Their experience of winning bronze previously (at Tokyo 2020) defined their place for their second bronze medal victory.
"Words can't describe how proud I am to see the fight in our Malaysian boys to take on this challenge to win our first medal at the Olympic Games.
"It is a real feat to have to back it up this time round and yet they did not falter because they knew what they were capable of and that comes with experience.
"Congratulations again Aaron-Wooi Yik for this bronze medal win that has inspired our nation to keep on pushing towards our dreams and belief of bigger things to come. Such an honour to witness this amazing display of our sheer grit and fight from you both."