Malaysia is a country that experiences a great amount of heat and practically an all year-round summer with a mean temperature of 34 degrees celsius. Therefore, not many Malaysians would be getting hyped up the Olympic Winter Games- or in fact much of any other Winter Games- and also, not many would even know that despite us being a hot and humid country, our nation still has a place in the chilly event.
Chew Kai Xiang, Malaysia’s sole representative at the ongoing 2016 Winter Youth Olympic Games held in Lillehammer, Norway, tackled irony by presenting quite an astounding performance as he successfully bagged 11th place out of the 16 participants in the men’s figure skating event on Monday with an overall total of 137.47 points. However, there was only a minuscule of recognition given to the young lad.
Despite his average results, Kai Xiang managed to do the nation proud by garnering attention and proving himself to be a rising star to bring our nation to greater heights in the industry.
Kai Xiang, whom got into the sport after a trip to France with his sister, aimed to achieve his personal best rather than sweeping off a medal.
The 16 year-old carried the Malaysian flag during the opening ceremony on Friday, sandwiched between the chef de mission and his mother as she was the team official. He represented one of the smaller delegations present in the prestigious event and vowed to make a great impression as the first athlete to ever take part in the Games.
The skater previously won the International Skating Union (ISU) World Figure Skating Development Trophy for the Asian Region and also secured runner-up in the Asian Open Figure Skating Trophy in Thailand last year.
According to Malaysia’s chef de mission, Mohammad Fadzli Johan, it is important to develop an idol in order to develop a sport and with excellent athletes such as Kai Xiang, he believes that winter sports would be able to spark some interest in the present youth and children.
What do you think? Should we give Winter Sports a go?
Other posts by Michelle Liew
