Okay, that sentence may not entirely be true: Malaysia did not qualify for the FIFA World Cup (sorry, football fans!) but we did qualify for the World Pastry Cup.
A team of local chefs will be representing the country at the famous Coupe du Monde de la Pâtisserie - or more commonly known as the World Pastry Cup - in Lyon, France at the end of January.
Heading the Malaysia National Pastry Team is Patrick Siau, Head Chef and Teaching Fellow from Sunway University. He will be the coach for the national team.Chefs Tan Wei Loon, Otto Tay and Loi Ming Ai, who won the 2018 Asian Pastry Cup (APC) in Singapore last year, make up the rest of the team.
“I am proud to be representing Malaysia at the world stage once again," said Patrick, who participated in the 2011 edition of the competition as team captain.
“We look forward to bringing glory and honour to our country.”
According to Patrick, the team has put in a lot of effort and are confident to get into the top three at the competition, which will be taking place on 27 to 28 January 2019.
Team Malaysia has never made top three since the competition's inception in 1989, but who knows, maybe Team Malaysia has what it takes to shake the world this year.
The World Pastry Cup, an international pastry competition, takes place every two years and brings together the very best pastry talents in the world.
This year’s competition will see 21 teams competing at the finale after a stringent selection process that involved more than fifty national rounds and four continental selection events in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe.
The teams will have a lifetime opportunity to showcase their talents to more than to 210,000 industry professionals who will meet in Lyon.
Team France, by the way, won the previous competition back in 2017.
Good luck, Chef Patrick and the rest of Team Malaysia. May your victory be sweet like the dessert you'll be making at the World Pastry Cup.