Pan Gon, Harimau Malaya special fan's wish granted

DOHA - If there is a will, even a ‘blind man’s wish’ can come true.

That was exactly what happened to a vision impaired Harimau Malaya die-hard fan Muhammad Ridzwan Erman Effendi whose long time wish to meet National head coach Kim Pan Gon and the Harimau Malaya squad, came true when he was given an opportunity to meet the squad at the team hotel, here yesterday.

It was indeed a double-sweet moment to cherish for Muhammad Ridzwan, 27, when he was able to meet his two favourite players in the national squad, namely Mohamad Faisal Abdul Halim and Arif Aiman Mohd Hanapi as well as Mohd Shahrul Mohd Saad.

The ardent fan of the Harimau Malaya squad was able to meet up the players before the team headed for a training session.

Accompanying the fan from Batu Gajah, Perak was his brother Raff Iskandar Erman Effendi, Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) president Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin and his deputy Datuk Mohd Yusoff Mahadi.

"I had never expected to be presented with an opportunity like this and I am lost for words. I just want to say that people always want to see Malaysia win but I just want to hear Malaysia win,” he said when met by reporters, here.

The tale of the two brothers has gone viral on social media this week, especially so because a brother has sacrificed his savings and time to bring his vision impaired brother on a flight to Qatar, just to enable the latter to provide his support to the Harimau Malaya which is playing in the 2023 Asian Cup, here.

Raff Iskandar, 31, and Muhammad Ridzwan arrived in Qatar on Monday to be in the stadium for all three matches played by Malaysia in Group E, namely against Jordan on Tuesday, Bahrain on Saturday and South Korea on Jan 25.

The duo are among thousands of Malaysian fans who are in Qatar for the Asian Cup, regarded as the premier football tournament in Asia.

Malaysia, having ended a 42-year wait to qualify for the Asian Cup on merit, hope to create history by qualifying for the round of 16, since the Malaysian squad has lost their three previous outings in the competition in the group stages.

Malaysia who meet Bahrain are both at the bottom of Group E after losing their opening matches respectively. - BERNAMA