Paris 2024: Two Malaysians bite the dust on day one

From Vikneswaran Raman

PARIS, July 27 (Bernama) -- Just one day after the 2024 Paris Olympics officially began, two national athletes have already been shown the exit.

National shooter Johnathan Wong, who is making his second appearance at the Olympics after the 2016 edition in Rio de Janeiro, crashed out in the qualifying round of the men's 10-metre (m) air pistol event at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre.

He finished 26th out of 33 participants with 570 points. Only the top eight qualified for the final.

Accompanying him on an early flight out of Paris is swimming debutant Khiew Hoe Yean, who clocked 3 minutes and 51.66 seconds (s) in Heat Two of the men’s 400m freestyle event at the Paris La Defense Arena. He finished 27th out of 37 participants.

Hoe Yean, 21, had come to Paris aiming to better his national record of 3:48.36s set at the Australian Open in Gold Coast last April. Instead, he is bound for home as only the eight best swimmers advance to the final.  

Meanwhile, over at the Porte de La Chapelle Arena, the national badminton camp experienced mixed fortunes in their first group stage matches amidst chilly weather of around 19 degrees Celsius due to continuous rain.

Malaysia’s top men's doubles pair of Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik bounced back from a first-game loss to defeat world number 18 Ben Lane-Sean Vendy of Great Britain 19-21, 21-16, 21-11 in a Group A match. The Malaysians are expected to seal their quarter-final ticket when they face Canadians Adam Dong-Nyl Yakura tomorrow (July 28).

National mixed doubles pair Chen Tan Jie-Toh Ee Wei also had to bounce back from a shaky start to defeat the Singapore husband-and-wife combination of Terry Hee Yong Kai-Jessica Tan Wei Han 23-21, 21-12 in Group D. A win over Americans Vinson Chiu-Jennie Gai tomorrow (July 28) will guarantee them a spot in the last eight.

But there was no such luck for national women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah, who went down fighting 17-21, 20-22 to world number one Chen Qing Chen-Jia Yi Fan of China in a tense 55-minute battle in Group A.

The 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games champions must defeat world number six Mayu Matsumoto-Wakana Nagahara of Japan tomorrow (July 28) or risk an early group stage exit.

Tomorrow (July 28) will also see national professional men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia start his Group G campaign against Sri Lanka’s Viren Nettasinghe.

Besides the shuttlers, the other Malaysians who will be in action tomorrow (July 28) are archers Ariana Nur Dania Mohamad Zairi, Syaqiera Masyahikh and Nurul Azreena Mohd Fazil in the women’s team event against Indonesia for a place in the last eight and young swimmer Tan Rouxin in the women’s 100m breaststroke.

Deputy Youth and Sports Minister Adam Adli Abd Halim advised those who crashed out early not to give up and to continue to fight in future tournaments.

“When competing at the highest level such as the Olympics, we must be prepared for all kinds of challenges. We will continue to support and help them to ensure there is continuous improvement,” he said.

Meanwhile, China sounded an early warning to their rivals in the race for the overall title by bagging the first two gold medals of this year’s edition.

Shooters Huang Yuting, 19, and Sheng Lihao, 17, delivered the first gold through the mixed team 10m air rifle event before divers Chang Yani-Chen Yiwen ensured China continued their domination in the women’s 3m springboard synchronised event for the sixth consecutive edition.

-- BERNAMA