National badminton team's press conference at KLIA

The Star

Olympic bronze medal winners Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik, along with national coaching director Rexy Mainaky, held a press conference at Kuala Lumpur International Airport Terminal 1 (KLIA) on Wednesday (Aug 7) following their return from the Paris Olympics.  Read more at https://tinyurl.com/y7cwr59c  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

Transcript

00:00For you guys, as a men's swimmer, can you share your feelings or overall satisfaction with

00:19your performance in the 2024 Paralympic Games?

00:22I think for this Olympics, we have learnt a lot from this Olympics and we got our second

00:31bronze medal in our second Olympics and I think this Olympics is special for us because

00:38I think we come back a lot from the difficult side and finally we got the bronze again.

00:52What is the difference between the Tokyo 2020 and the Paralympic Games?

00:58It's different because in the Tokyo 2020, there were no supporters and now when we enter

01:06the stadium, we can feel the pressure in the Olympics so it's a different situation.

01:15I think Aaron and I are happy because we can overcome a lot of situations there and maybe

01:21we couldn't deliver a goal but we are satisfied because we got a medal for Malaysia.

01:28How do you see the hope of Malaysian people who gave all the support to come to KLIA?

01:37Maybe you want to say something to them?

01:41We have to thank our fans and supporters in Malaysia and those who came to Paris to

01:49support us, we have to thank them too.

01:52If you want to thank them, there are a lot.

01:56DM, RTG's team, coaches, our teammates, our family.

02:03These are the people who always support us no matter how.

02:08Aaron, two Olympics, two bronze medals.

02:10It's not lack of trying.

02:11You guys did everything.

02:13Moving forward, that closeness to closing the gap to go to the finals.

02:19It should be a process that starts from here for LA or how do you see this challenge?

02:24I think there is still a lot of room for improvement for me.

02:32We have to prepare if we really want to fight for 2028 LA.

02:42It starts from a few years from now.

02:45We have to prepare and take care of our health.

02:49In terms of abilities in that level, we know it's not just that.

02:56There's more needed because everyone can win in the Olympics if it's on the right day.

03:01Is that the next factor?

03:03Do you see this is something that we can fix for 2028 LA?

03:10I think because everyone is going for the gold medal, right?

03:14And we are going for the gold medal too.

03:17It's quite tough actually, the competitive.

03:21Everybody analyses us, we analyse everybody.

03:25I think during the semifinals, it's a crucial point.

03:30China did some best strategy against us.

03:35So I think there's no doubt they are still the best.

03:39But I think we also did our part, we also did our best.

03:44We really gave it all from our training.

03:48Everything came out and I think we are satisfied with our performance.

03:52In terms of after this, as the Olympics are over,

03:56how long break do you need to get back into the competition mode?

03:59Any targets after this?

04:01I think there's only a few days break.

04:03And we are leaving to Japan Open and Korea Open probably.

04:08So it's not much time for us to rest.

04:11No family time, wife, kids.

04:13I think only these few days.

04:15Back to job.

04:17Before that, how good is it for you to be back home after the Olympics?

04:21Back home before going overseas.

04:24I think it's good to be back in Malaysia.

04:27I think there's another boost for us to go further on.

04:34Do you have any celebration?

04:38I think not much.

04:40All I want to celebrate is with my family.

04:44I just want to go home to have a chit-chat with them.

04:48Because we had a long time break and didn't see them.

04:52I also stayed in BM recently.

04:55We went to Paris for a few months and didn't see my family.

05:00I'm very grateful that I have this time to meet them.

05:04Overall performance, we can say that

05:07we didn't reach our target of winning the gold medal.

05:13But these two races have been a good result

05:20for us to come back.

05:22Because in Tokyo, we only had one gold medal.

05:24But we came back with two gold medals.

05:26That's a good result.

05:28But for the performance,

05:30from all the numbers and disciplines,

05:34Li Xieqie, Beregu, mixed doubles, men's doubles, women's doubles,

05:39and also Go Jinwei,

05:41their performance is very consistent.

05:43Because this is Go Jinwei's first time.

05:46Aaron Ayi's second time, Li Xieqie's second time.

05:49Most of the other players, it's their first time.

05:51But their performance is consistent.

05:53Mixed doubles can be the top of the group,

05:56can beat defending champions.

05:58But the women's doubles,

06:00Go Jinwei can drag the Korean players

06:06to three sets and almost win.

06:08That's something that I can say that

06:11I'm happy with the performance of all the players.

06:14But we can't just be happy,

06:16but what do we want to do next?

06:18The performance is just a small luck.

06:20How can we close the small one

06:23so that we can win in 2028?

06:27The biggest lesson.

06:30What's the biggest lesson?

06:32What's the biggest lesson?

06:34We have to be brave to learn from countries like China, Japan, Korea.

06:41That's what we haven't done yet.

06:44We have to be brave to do what they do

06:47so that we can speak further in 2028.

06:50So this is the lesson we have to learn.

06:53What we have done is quite good.

06:57The support from ARTG,

06:59the support from BAM, management,

07:02MSN, ISN, OCM,

07:05everything is quite good.

07:08But what do we need?

07:10Because at the end of the day,

07:12the one who will compete in the quarterfinals are the players.

07:15We have to make sure that all the players feel that

07:18they don't have to be afraid of anything.

07:21Maybe like Aaron and Zoe,

07:25and Peli and Tina,

07:26at the crucial point,

07:27there's a little bit that they don't have to do,

07:31but they have to do it,

07:32but they don't do it.

07:33So this is the luck that makes them lose in the semifinals.

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