But unknown to many, 53-year-old Kristil Tan of Teluk Intan also made Malaysia proud by being one of the 36 umpires selected from all over the world to officiate badminton matches at the Olympics.
Kristil, who has 30 years of experience under her belt, described her Games debut as “truly memorable and remarkable”.
The co-curricular coach at the Institute of Teacher Education Malay Women campus in Melaka was involved in a total of 17 matches in Tokyo – nine as an umpire and eight as a service judge.
Despite having extensive experience, the former school teacher could not help but feel nervous about being a part of the world’s biggest multi-sports Games.
“The last time I was involved in a competition before the Tokyo Olympics was early last year in a para tournament in Brazil. So it was quite a challenge for me to be in Tokyo. Thankfully everything went smoothly,” she said.
Asked about her most memorable match at the Musashino Forest Sport Plaza, the Melaka Badminton Association technical committee chairman had no hesitation in picking the women’s doubles quarterfinal between top seeds Yuki Fukushima-Sayaka Hirota of Japan and China’s Chen Qing Chen-Jia Yi Fan.
She said both pairs put up a great performance, especially the Japanese, as one of them was injured during the game.
“The player never gave up though, and they fought hard. But in the end, it was the Chinese pair who progressed to the semifinals.
“The most touching part was when the pair from China went over to console the Japanese shuttlers, who looked distraught after their defeat,” she added.
Kristil was also impressed with the way the organisers ran the Games, particularly in making sure there was minimal contact between players to curb the spread of Covid-19.
She said the organisers even provided individual scoreboard pens and microphone covers, as well as a special device for players to retrieve shuttlecocks instead of having them handed by the service judge.
Being an umpire has taught her to be more mindful of her surroundings, on top of having the opportunity to build a good network with officials from other countries.
She said the most challenging part of her role was ensuring fair treatment for all the players and handling disputes between them.