IPOH: Like any proud mother, Leow Lai Kwan could not stop beaming when asked about her daughter Cheong Jun Hoong, who is the first Malaysian to win a diving gold medal at the World Aquatics Championships.
“Thank you Malaysia, for all the support given to my daughter. I am so proud of her,” she said when met at her home in Kampung Kepayang, here today.
Leow said the watched the event with bated breath via a live telecast.
“My husband and I had been glued to the television since 12.30am. We simply could not believe it when she was announced champion.
“She rang me afterwards and told me about her win. We are so very happy for her," she said.
Jun Hoong's sister, Jun Yeng, 24, said that after the championship, Jun Hoong would be busy preparing for the SEA Games to be held next month on home soil.
“She will undergo training for the SEA Games as soon as she arrives in Kuala Lumpur on Monday (July 24).
“While we keep each other updated in a WhatsApp group, we don't put any pressure on Jun Hoong as we know that she would give her best at every meet. She doesn't normally look at the scoreboard and only finds out her total score after the final dive,” she said.
Jun Hoong, who scored 397.50 points in the women’s 10 metre platform event category in the championships in Budapest, Hungary, stunned Olympic champion Si Yajie from China who bagged silver with a score difference of 1.50.