Understandably, Eain Yow Ng hadn't yet processed his emotions the morning after becoming the first ever squash player to secure a place at the Olympic Games. But perhaps the most significant word he used was 'free'.
The night before, in Nagoya, Japan, the Malaysian no.1 had defeated India's Abhay Singh 11-9, 11-5, 11-5 to secure his second successive men's singles gold medal at the Asian Games. He didn't drop a single game throughout.
With over 11,000 athletes competing in 43 sports, the Asian Games is the biggest multi-sport event in the world. There is massive focus on it every four years across the continent.
This year, the Asian Games squash singles tournaments carried even greater weight. In fact, they were, to date, unarguably the highest-stakes squash tournaments ever held. Both gold medallists received the first ever places in the draws for squash's Olympic debut at LA28.
With the men's singles final taking place before the women's (which was won by Malaysia's world no.5 Sivasangari Subramaniam), Eain Yow therefore became (and will forever remain) squash's first ever Olympian.
"I am still processing it and I think I will need to give it time to sink in," he told Squash Player after what was surely a fractured night's sleep.
Although his head was undoubtedly still a tumble dryer of emotions, one that stood out was relief. He will not be one of the many players fretting about their ranking in the run-up to the key qualification deadline of 22 May 2028.
"It just frees up a little bit of that head space," he admitted. "I can just really focus on my squash now rather than just thinking about the ranking most of the time.
"I think that helps a lot with my game and a lot of my improvement. It has been slightly difficult for me in the last year and a half. I have dropped slightly in the ranking, so just by playing good squash, I think I slowly, definitely can climb back up."
There is, of course, a minor asterisk next to Eain Yow's 'confirmed' Olympic status. He has to be in the top 50 of the PSA world rankings on the 22 May 2028 cut-off date to meet the criteria.
But despite the ranking drop he mentioned (from 10th in April last year to a current 18th), the wider picture is that Eain Yow hasn't been lower than 25th for almost five years. Top 50 shouldn't be an issue as long as he remains injury-free.
Eain Yow's reference to 'head space' is also a nod to the pressure that Malaysian athletes, in particular, have faced in the run-up to the Asian Games.
Both he and Subramaniam have received extensive funding from the Malaysian National Sports Council's 'Road To Gold' programme, which brings with it high expectation. The programme was set up in part to break the nation's extraordinary history of Olympic under-achievement. Incredibly, Malaysia has never won an Olympic gold medal; just eight silvers and seven bronzes since they first entered the Games in 1956.
Eain Yow reflected: "There's so much pressure on it, so many people expecting us to deliver, so many investments put into us, so much support we received.
"I am so happy that I was able to enjoy the moment, as there was so much pressure on the occasion – there are so many expectations put on us, but today was all about staying focused right to the very end.”
There was barely time for the 28-year-old to draw breath, let alone take in the enormity of his achievement, as he had to prepare for the Asian Games team competition starting the very next day.
Once the mania of the Asian Games finishes, Eain Yow has the bulk of the PSA season to get his teeth into. For the rest of the men's tour, accumulating points will be very much with rankings and LA28 qualification in mind. Eain Yow will be the exception and he admits it's an odd feeling.
"Even before this, I was thinking, is it a little bit too early to be doing the qualification now for two years' time? But I'm not going to complain! There's still so much to do, stay healthy and injury free, just keep improving my squash and just keep chipping away."
With the postponement of the African Games (originally scheduled to begin on 20 January 2027, with no new date for the squash qualification event yet announced), the next scheduled LA28 qualification event is not until 16-27 June, the European Games in Istanbul; followed by the Pan-American Games (16 July - 1 August) and finally the Pacific Games (24 July - 8 August).
Eain Yow Ng and Sivasangari Subramaniam have officially fired squash's Olympic starting gun.
