London Olympics: Maybank present special racquet to shuttlers

Can you imagine having the names of 44,215 Malaysian badminton fans etched onto a single racquet?
Yes, that was what world No. 2 Lee Chong Wei received on behalf of the Malaysian shuttlers bound for the London Olympic Games yesterday.
The special memento, symbolising the roaring voices of Malaysians from all walks of life, was presented to the badminton team in a bid to spur them on to end Malaysia’s chase for the elusive Olympic gold medal.
The badminton competition is from July 28-Aug 5 and the team will leave on Thursday for their final stage of preparation at the Bath Uni­ver­sity before they move their base to Wembley.
The special nano-etched racquet was presented by Maybank and was specially designed by experts at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. The unique racquet was handed over to Chong Wei by Maybank president and chief operating officer Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar during a special sending-off dinner for the Malaysian team.
Wahid was pleased with the commitment shown by the Malaysian team ahead of the Olympic Games.
“The dream of an Olympic gold is shared by 28 million, including me. Badminton has been the sole shining beacon with silver and bronze contributions for the country so far. And we are hungry for more,” he said.
“We had initiated the ‘Go for Gold’ campaign. It gave Malaysians a chance to pen their names and words of encouragement to our players. They were then etched on the strings of a badminton racquet. There are 44,215 names. This is now a symbolic tool to represent the spirit of Malaysians rallying our players at the London Olympic Games.”
He reminded the players to show fighting spirit, harking back to the 2006 Malaysian Open final when Chong Wei fought back from 13-20 in the rubber game to eventually beat China’s Lin Dan 23-21.
“I still remember Chong Wei’s dramatic fightback. This shows that we can achieve anything if we put our mind to it. My advice is: never give up.”
Maybank also named two ardent badminton fans – Ling Shih Shiun and Nik Mohd Azhar Nik Hussin – as winners of their best slogan competition aimed at inspiring the Olympic-bound team. The duo will be sent to London to support the team.
Courtesy of The Star