Paris 2024: Zii Jia brings back the cheers to Malaysian contingent

From Vikneswaran Raman

PARIS, Aug 2 (Bernama) -- The composed display by men's singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia to advance to the semi-finals, raised the spirits of the Malaysian contingent competing in the 2024 Paris Olympics and helped lift the gloom surrounding the badminton camp after enduring an emotional day.

The start of the challenge on the seventh day of the Games was agonizing when the attempt by two doubles representatives to reach the finals were hindered by the 'great wall' of China during a hard-fought semi-final, at the Porte de La Chapelle Arena today. 

In the first action this morning (afternoon in Malaysia), women's doubles pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah had to accept the greatness of the world number one doubles pair Chen Qing Chen-Jia Yi Fan from China, losing 12-21, 21-18, 15-21 after an intense battle that lasted over 78 minutes.

They will next play in the bronze medal decider against Japan's Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida on Saturday, in an attempt to make history after becoming the first Malaysian women's doubles pair to reach the Olympic semi-finals.             

The men’s doubles pair of Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik also experienced a similar fate against another world leading pair from China, Liang Wei Keng-Wang Chang.

After a fierce encounter for over an hour, the 2022 world champions had to concede defeat, going down 19-21, 21-15, 17-21 in a three-set thriller.

In the mission to defend the bronze, Aaron-Wooi Yik will face the world number two doubles pair Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen from Denmark, on Sunday.

However, Zii Jia who came down to play in the quarter-finals at night (early Saturday morning in Malaysia), managed to cheer up the national contingent again when he overcame the challenge of Anders Antonsen from Denmark.

Zii Jia, the 2021 All England champion, played calmly enough to register a 21-17, 21-15 win over the world number three player, to set up a date with the 2023 world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn from Thailand.

Earlier, Kunlavut pulled off a major surprise by eliminating the world number one player, Shi Yu Qi from China 21-12, 21-10 in straight sets.

In addition to badminton, Malaysia's challenge on Saturday will continue with golf featuring Gavin Green who entered the third round of the individual event. 

Sailing has Khairulnizam Mohd Afendy and Nur Shazrin Mohamad Latiff continuing action in the men's ILCA 7 and ILCA 6 women's single handed dinghy events respectively.

The focus will also be on the country's sprinter Muhammad Azeem Mohd Fahmi, who will open his campaign in the preliminary round of the men's 100m event at the Stade de France. 

It will be interesting to see if the US-based sprinter is able to improve his national record of 10.09 seconds, following the stadium's new purple Mondo track, which is said to help athletes record faster times.

-- BERNAMA