PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s mixed doubles pair of Goh Liu Ying-Chan Peng Soon are beginning to reap the financial rewards of their silver medal feat at the Rio Olympics.
Peng Soon-Liu Ying lost 14-21, 12-21 to world No. 3 Tontowi Ahmad-Liliyana Natsir of Indonesia in the badminton mixed doubles final on Wednesday.
Apart from sharing the RM300,000 under the National Sports Council’s (NSC) incentive scheme, the pair can also expect to split another RM110,000 – courtesy of the Malacca state government and mobile virtual network operator XOX Bhd (XOX).
That works out to cool RM205,000 each for Liu Ying and Peng Soon, who will both also get RM3,000 lifetime pension each.
Bernama reported that Chief Minister Datuk Seri Idris Haron had announced that Malacca-born Liu Ying and Peng Soon, who is from Penang, will share equally the state’s incentive of RM50,000.
Idris said the state government would also consider other incentives for the mixed doubles pair.
“Congratulations to Liu Ying and Peng Soon for winning the silver medal although we had hoped that they would win Malaysia’s first Olympic gold medal,” he told reporters after watching the live telecast of the match.
He added that the state government would propose that Liu Ying be awarded the Bintang Cemerlang Melaka for having enhanced the image of Malacca and Malaysia on the international arena.
XOX, meanwhile, are rewarding the pair with RM60,000.
“Malaysia looks ready for a historic medal haul at this event, and XOX will be rewarding all the athletes who receive medals in badminton as well as in other sports. Congratulations to Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu-Ying. You’ve done the nation proud!” said XOX Bhd group managing director Datuk Eddie Chai.
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