Tuesday, September 30, 2014

our unsung hero

i know, what i'm about to write was never in my outstanding list.
but then again, before the heat gone mellow, i need to write this out.
...
congratulation along!!
well, i was not much an athlete myself, but others than kak ain is! i am more of the nerd and geek in the family.

yesterday, my cousin, mohd ezuan bin nasir khan came back from incheon, korea. after so many trips, after so many arrivals, after so many competitions, after so many years, his arrival yesterday was the most waited one.. truth is, it was not the usual comeback. it's payback time.

when he got in the sek bukit jalil to be trained as one of the candidate to become a national shooter, i was impressed. all of us were. i didn't even knew that he was into shooting. it was a hobby that he put in when his dad-who-spoilt-his-kids-to-death included along's name to join the subsidized shooting club at his workplace. obviously, the expert saw him, and offered to train him professionally and he was only fourteen (if i wasn't mistaken). i was not supportive as i never knew he would go far being a sportsman in malaysia. anyhow anywho, he was in bukit jalil like as long as we could remember.

he was progressing quite well, representing kuala lumpur, selangor and in the national team (but was usually the benchwarmer).  when he won the gold in sukma the first time, the whole family were so proud of him. then, he won too many national medals, but never internationally. so, the medals were norm. as shooting was never the favourite game like football, badminton and few others, the attention from the nation and us the family were so-so. when he won, he won, when he doesn't, no harm done.
somehow, he wasn't performing at par and was being 'kicked' from the national team. the navy took him when bukit jalil slashed him out. of course there were politics and dramas, but am in no position to write about it here.

July this year, he impressed me when he told me he was leaving for scotland to represent malaysia in the commonwealths' games. the family and i were never been so proud to know one of the sportsmen leaving for the country was this skinny bone guy, along, as his nicked has always been. he missed the eid celebration and the lil brother's engagement event for that. he didn't won anything, but being in the 6th place for the 10m air rifle men in the commonwealths' games was something that he should be proud of himself. we were hopeful, but was never disappointed.

and this month, he was off to incheon. the family prayed hard. we wanted him to win a medal for us. we wanted more than anyone can imagine to see jalur gemilang being flagged during the award ceremony, and if we were lucky, we even hear negaraku to be played.

like the usual, we didn't send him off. his twenty five and that was not his first international games. and mind you, travelling on a ticket of being not a favourite sports, he wasn't being spoilt with hard cash.. maybe it's the same to all sportment.but to along, i sympathized. he went there with not much of a pocket money. he didn't earned much from his monthly navy's income. and due to him going to the asian game, he was not been given any allowance. yup, no allowance given when he went to scotland two month before, and even now. hmmm.... i wonder where the tax money i paid to the lhdn all these while.

i remember telling him "long, i won't be asking much, at least as silver medal"..

like the usual, his dad will be updating us religiously on his son's progress. he would text the group asking for prayers. he would text the group telling his son was doing ok. until last thursday, he text us "tengok awani, along masuk final 50m rifle"... and we were like ...ha!!!!!!! biar betul.. most of us were in the office that noon. but, never could i managed to describe in words how proud we were when our uncle told us "along dapat silver"... i knew, my uncle was still shocked. he always believed in his son. when others pushed him away, my uncle never failed to support him. at times me writing this, i was smiling.. my uncle was telling us how everybody in his office was taking photo of his son's medal - what the heck he brought the medal with him to the office? :)

that night, when we saw how calm he competed, and was defeated by 0.6 points (suddenly we knew about rifle scoring.... bimbo us!).. i got goosebumped. this boy, m ezuan nasir khan, 25 years old, has his future ahead.

it was never in the list of medal to be won. and as-to-date, out of 20 medals from the athletes for putting malaysia on the 10th place in the game, came from our dear cousin, m ezuan nasir khan. it was the first time ever for men's shooting team to ever won any medal in asian game.. this nobody kid from kg baru wrote the country's history. if we were proud of him, i couldn't describe how both my uncle and auntie felt. he came back yesterday. my aunt cried hugging her elder boy. i wasn't there, but as i saw the clip from the news just now, i knew the emotion was everywhere.

takpelah long orang tendang ko sana sini
takpelah long keje ntah seberapa gaji ntah banyak mana nak mewah2 mmg tak logik
takpelah long takde banner sebesar klia yang datang sambut ko balik
takpelah long
takpelah
pandai2 kitorang ni, belum lagi tersampai nak dapat peluang harumkan nama negara ni
bijak2 kitorang ni, belum lagi termampu nak masuk tv, reporter interview tanye apa rasa bila buat satu malaysia terkejut
terer2 kitorang ni, belum lagi terdaya nak buat mama papa bangga bila dengar orang cakap "wah, anak kak aya menang medal untuk malaysia.."
ada orang dengki cakap nasib baik je tu
ada orang iri cakap, la... naper silver, dapat gold baru gempak
ada orang tamak cakap, banyak ke duit dapat menang silver?
ada orang cemburu cakap, bukan favourite sport pun, competition gitu-gitu je

whatever it is, please know, we were proud of you.
on  behalf of the family, thank you along...
kalau panjang umur nenek atuk, mesti happy diorang cucu die harumkan nama negara
thank you, along.
...













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