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Kota Kinabalu: A small Tawau boy who was on cloud nine after winning second place in his first-ever badminton tournament has gone viral. 

The inspiring eight-year-old Nubhan, who recently went viral on TikTok when he wanted to take a photo of himself with his certificate and hamper after the tournament, invited a local influencer to pay him a visit.

The video, shared by TikTok user @acebadmintoncentre and viewed 121.7K times, shows the little boy overwhelmed with joy while receiving a runner-up prize and borrowing his mother’s phone to take a photo of himself.

When his friends were too busy to help him, he took one by himself. The whole process, including him taking off his slippers and using one of them to prop up the phone until he got a photo captured, was also filmed and uploaded to TikTok.

Moved by Nubhan’s determination and passion for the sport, the influencer, Adrian Edy, brought along a set of gifts for him.

“Today, it was fate that brought us together. Nubhan, don’t think of these gifts as being from me; they are all from God for you. I hope Nubhan will continue to succeed and achieve his dreams one day,” Adrian said in a Facebook post.

“Nubhan said he admires Datuk Lee Chong Wei and dreams of becoming a badminton player representing Malaysia in the Olympics when he grows up.

“He was very happy that day because it was his first tournament and he won second place, even though his opponents were all bigger than him."

He said Nubhan’s father is the sole breadwinner and has other children to support in the household.

“He was so happy when he received the gifts and immediately held the racket and asked, ‘This is an expensive racket, right? This is a racket for those who already know how to play well, right?’,” Adrian recounted.

He also thanked everyone who contributed to his initiative, an aid mission for those in need.