KUALA LUMPUR: No one gave them a chance, and Malaysia's table tennis players were not in a position to promise much.
But the paddlers punched above their weight, winning two silver medals at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
The feel-good story about this is not about spectacular display of world class skill; it's about fighting spirit, about the players summoning that extra mental power to rise to the occasion.
Malaysia, led by the inspirational Ho Ying, won the women's team silver while Javen Choong-Karen Lyne Dick battled their way to the mixed doubles silver. Two "surprise medals" that captured the imagination.
It was Malaysia's best ever outing in table tennis since the sport became part of the programme in 2002. While countries like Singapore, Australia and Canada resorted to using naturalised players, the Table Tennis Association of Malaysia continued to place faith in local players. In Birmingham, the four men and four women's players repay that trust.
Though the paddlers' international rankings are not good enough for them to play in the ITTF league, they performed better than those from India, Singapore and Australia who do play in the league. The Malaysians are limited to featuring only in tournaments in Southeast Asia like the Sea Games and Sea Cup.
Though short on international exposure, they make up with hard work which means long hours of daily training.
National coach Beh Lee Wei said her players don't have the opportunity to play in the ITTF league like the other countries.
"But we shouldn't use that as an excuse. Instead, we must find other ways. The key to success is to train hard for long hours and also have the fire in you to excel.
"I am proud of our players. They fought hard to upset higher-ranked players in the Games.
"In the women's team quarter-finals against defending champions India, we started as the underdogs but our players played their hearts out to win. It was the turning point for us in the Games as our players' confidence grew.
"Our men's team have also shown improvement as we gave a good fight to strong teams like Nigeria. The mixed pair of Javen-Karen was the big surprise as they upset two seeded pairs to reach the final. This shows that we can match the naturalised players.
"We will continue to work to improve our players. Next year we have two important events: the Sea Games in Phnom Penh and Hangzhou Asian Games. We must start planning from now."
For the national players, there is not much time to celebrate their Games success. Long hard hours of training await.