Compiled by C. ARUNO, RAHIMY RAHIM and R. ARAVINTHAN
OLYMPIC medallist and world diving champion Cheong Jun Hoong announced that she has become a mother after giving birth to her first child, China Press reported.
The 35-year-old joked that she has successfully completed a “10-month project” and delivered a new product which has “no after sales service, no returns and no instruction manual”.
When compared to the pain of giving birth, Cheong said the challenges she faced over the past three decades now seemed insignificant, adding that she has a newfound appreciation for mothers.
She had earlier hinted at a pregnancy on social media and said she had undertaken a project which was expected to deliver by year-end. The post drew a slew of congratulatory messages from fans.
Cheong made history at the World Aquatics Championships 2017 in Budapest, Hungary, where she won gold in the women’s 10m platform, securing Malaysia’s first-ever diving world championship title.
Having paired up with Datuk Pandelela Rinong, the team won silver in the women’s 10m synchronised platform at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Due to long-term injuries, Cheong announced her retirement in 2022.
> A man in China was dubbed the “Frog Prince” for having cheeks that resembled those of a frog after working as a glassblower for 30 years, Sin Chew Daily reported.
Footage of the man at work at a glass factory went viral online and sparked widespread discussion.
As he was blowing into glass, his cheeks swelled to several times the size of an average person’s.
“Blowing glass every day with force has gradually stretched my cheek muscles,” the man said.
Glassblowing requires workers to continuously blow air into molten glass to shape it, making it a task which places high demand on lung capacity and facial muscle strength.
(The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.)
