lost

The morning after Lee Chong Wei vs Lin Dan in Olympics 2012

As much as I can say Malaysia needed it,  Lin Dan once again proved to be the powerful attacking machine he was born to be. 

All of us in the team led by Simon and Liza arrived on the night of Datuk Lee Chong Wei's Olympic badminton final. We decided to have dinner together in the nearby Siang Siang foodcourt where we could also watch the match. A hopeful, cheerful crowd of Kuchingites had gathered there to watch the gold medal match live via three mounted TVs. Our kolo mee order came as the match begun.

The three sets were quick to pass. At some moments we shouted joy and sometimes we cried despairingly. People watched the long rallies tensely with kolo mee dangling from their mouths and absent-mindedly sipping their milo ais. And we Malaysians watched faithfully, all the way - all the way to the painful end.

Then there was that awkward moment where everybody goes shuffling back to what they were doing before: eating, drinking, cooking, serving food or giving change. Sighs of dismissal and disappointment could be heard but most of us didn't have much to say.

Not many stayed to watch Lin Dan parade around the court taking off his shirt multiple times

The next morning, pictures of Lee Chong Wei were everywhere on the papers - our teary-eyed national hero. Lee Chong Wei had tweeted, "I'm sorry" but the subsequent outpouring of love and care on Facebook and Twitter revealed Malaysia's softer sentiments.

On a side note, we also had kolo mee for breakfast (we had unknowingly ordered wantan noodles and it turned out to be kolo mee with wantan) thus bringing the kolo mee count to 2 within less than 24 hours of our arrival in Kuching. However, very soon, we lost count.