Rio 2016: RM50,000 reward for Olympic silver medallists Liu Ying-Peng Soon

Melaka Chief Minister Datuk Seri Idris Haron today announced a RM50,000 incentive for Malaysia's mixed pair who won the badminton silver medal at the Rio Olympic Games last night.

Apart from cash reward, the state government would also consider other incentives for the mixed doubles players.

He said the money would be shared equally between Melaka-born Goh Liu Ying and her partner Chan Peng Soon who hails from Penang.

"Congratulations to Liu Ying and Peng Soon for winning the silver medal though we had hoped that they would win Malaysia's first Olympic gold medal," he told reporters after watching the live telecast of the match here.

“The state government has agreed to give RM25,000 because the victory is a teamwork and we do not choose only to reward people from Melaka,” he added.

Peng Soon-Liu Ying went down 14-21, 12-21 to the world's third-ranked Tontowi Ahmad-Liliyana Natsir of Indonesia.

"Watching the match, I realised that our players were under tremendous pressure," said Idris.

He also said that the state government would propose that Liu Ying be awarded the Bintang Cemerlang Melaka for having enhanced the image of Melaka and Malaysia on the international arena.

"As far as I know, she is the first Melaka girl to get a medal at the Olympics. This is considered a big enough achievement," Idris added.