Zii Jia vows to continue Olympic gold quest in LA28

From Vikneswaran Raman

PARIS, Aug 5 (Bernama) -- National men’s singles professional shuttler Lee Zii Jia has vowed to continue his Olympic gold quest at Los Angeles 2028 (LA28) after his Paris 2024 bronze medal finish tonight.

Zii Jia, who arrived in Paris dreaming of gold after a good run in the recent World Tour tournaments, described his semi-final loss to Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn at the Porte de La Chapelle Arena as “being woken up from a good sleep with a tight slap”.

“I just went blank at that moment (defeat to Kunlavut) and wasn’t sure if I really wanted this bronze. We (Malaysia) already have a lot of bronze and silver medals from the Olympics… what we do not have yet is the gold medal.

“But, for me, this is a good start to my (Olympic) journey. I will definitely be back for LA28 and I will try to get the gold for myself and Malaysia,” he said after defeating India’s Lakshya Sen 13-21, 21-16, 21-11 in the bronze medal playoff today.

Zii Jia, who lost to China’s Chen Long in the last 16 on his Olympic debut in Tokyo 2020, is the third Malaysian men’s singles shuttler to have won an Olympic medal after Datuk Rashid Sidek's bronze in the 1996 edition in Atlanta and Datuk Lee Chong Wei’s three straight silver medals in Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016.

The bronze is world number seven Zii Jia’s first Olympic medal after losing to China’s Chen Long in the last 16 when he made his debut at the 2020 edition in Tokyo.

The 2021 All-England champion said that, since leaving the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) to become an independent player in early 2022, a lot of things have happened and made him a more mature shuttler.

Meanwhile, Lakshya lamented the injury he suffered during the game, with his right hand bleeding due to a bruise, which he said affected his game as he had to have it bandaged.

“I couldn’t really give my best... once he started getting a good momentum, the pressure started building up. It was hard to control the rallies.

“No, I don’t think so (the injury turned the match around), he played a really good game. Once he got the rhythm, it was difficult for me,” he said.

Meanwhile, Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen retained his men’s singles gold medal with a dominant 21-11, 21-11 victory over Kunlavut of Thailand in the final. 

Earlier, world number one An Se Young of South Korea beat China’s He Bing Jiao 21-13, 21-16 for the women’s singles gold.

-- BERNAMA