Football fans, who was your Harimau Malaya player of the tournament at the AFC Asian Cup? Faisal Halim for his goal that bamboozled the South Korean defence? Or the Dominic Tan/Daniel Ting/Danny Tan defensive unit (if you spotted the fake player, you’re fully awake!) that had Son & Co in their pockets? And what about Arif Aiman’s runs? A, B, C or D?

D for Derrick Gan. If you don’t know the name, you’ll know the face. And his now famous gold mohawk. The Harimau Malaya fan was caught by camera in a highly emotional state when Malaysia scored against South Korea in our final Group E match at Stadium Al Janoub.

It was later revealed that the Derrick sold his Yamaha LC kapcai to fund his trip to Qatar. That story and those tears propelled him to fame, and the gifts are now pouring in for the Melaka native. He parted with one bike, and he now has a few new ones, including a new LC from Faisal Halim himself, a Modenas upon touching down in KL and a Honda RS150.

Derrick has received new bikes from Modenas and Faisal Halim, among others

Those tears of joy and the good fortune from the cameras have now netted him some new tyres too. Hankook Tire Malaysia recently presented Derrick with a set of Kinergy Eco tyres for his Toyota Vios. He drives? The HM fan previously told Bernama that the Yamaha he sold was his only bike, and his car was being used by his wife in KL.

“I felt like I don’t deserve all this,” Gan told Hankook during the tyre fitting session in Desa Sri Hartamas, KL, adding that he never imagined that his screen appearance would become a hot topic of discussion. This is proof that fortune can sometimes come from the most unexpected of places, and when you’re not looking for it.

By the way, Derrick has now come out to say that he’s no longer accepting personal gifts, but is open to collaborations that are giving it back to the public, in his own words. “We can definitely help out others that needed it more than me,” he said. This comes after some dengki netizens questioned his deservingness. His full statement below.

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