MALAYSIAN chess player Loo Pin Xie has won the gold medal in the standard category at the SEA Deaf Games 2025.
The twenty-year-old athlete credits his mother Ng Kwi Chuan for her unwavering support throughout his journey.
Ng resigned from her computer engineering job when Pin Xie was seven years old to focus fully on her son.
She has never regretted her decision and considers it her duty to continue being her son’s protector.
Pin Xie expressed gratitude to all Malaysians along with his family and friends for their encouragement.
“I have been deaf since the age of three, but the one who is always, always with me is my mother,“ he said.
“My mother accompanies me to chess competitions,“ he added when met today.
Ng explained that they initially thought Pin Xie had a speech delay before discovering his hearing loss at age three.
“He had been lip-reading, and we actually thought it was just a speech delay but when he was taken to a speech therapist, it was confirmed that he had a hearing loss,“ she said.
“Most importantly, he loves chess and so we just support him in whatever he wants,“ she added.
Meanwhile, another Malaysian player Ainnur Asyikin Jupineh struck gold in the women’s standard chess event. – Bernama