Ountry's Wait For First Medal Continues Despite Gallant Effort By Pearly-Thinaah

From Vikneswaran Raman

PARIS, Aug 3 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian contingent will have to wait at least one more day to see the glitter of the first medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. 

On the eighth day of the Games, Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah’s hopes of a medal did not materialise despite making history as the country's first women's doubles team to advance to the semi-finals of the Olympics.

Pearly-Thinaah, ranked 12th in the world, lost their bronze medal playoff 11-21, 11-21 to Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida of Japan, ranked fourth in the world, at the Porte de La Chapelle Arena. 

 However, Malaysia has a chance to win a medal as early as tomorrow (Sunday), when Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik will play in the men's doubles bronze medal playoff against the world number two pair, Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen from Denmark

Based on the head-to-head meeting record, Aaron-Wooi Yik who are the bronze medalist from the previous edition, have won seven times and lost on four occasions. 

In addition, men's singles player Lee Zii Jia will also play in the semi-finals against the 2023 world champion, Kunlavut Vitidsarn from Thailand, who created a sensation by knocking out the world number one from China, Shi Yu Qi in straight sets, 21-12, 21-10.

Zii Jia who advanced by defeating world number three from Denmark, Anders Antonsen 21-17, 21-15 on Friday, can guarantee at least a silver medal if he is able to register a victory in the final four action.

Meanwhile, sprinter Muhammad Azeem Mohd Fahmi, making his debut in the Olympics, failed to get past the first round after finishing last (9th) in the race, clocking 10.45 seconds at the Stade de France, well below his National record of 10.09s.

Only the top three runners in the eight heats and along with the three other athletes with the fastest time qualify for the semi-finals.

The 20-year-old runner who finished the preliminary heat 1 in second place with a time of 10.42s, admitted to a slight slip in the beginning and promised to perform better in the next edition, the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Off the track, professional golfer Gavin Kyle Green managed to jump eight places to tie for 38th spot with five others after carding a one-under-par 212 score after the third round of the men's singles event at the Le Golf National.

In today’s action at the golf course, Gavin carded a two-under 69 after having carded rounds of 74 and 69 in the first two rounds.

At the Marseille Marina, sailors Khairulnizam Mohd Afendy and Nur Shazrin Mohamad Latif ranked 28th (114 penalty points) and 32nd (123 penalty points) respectively in the ILCA 7 men's and ILCA 6 women's single-handed dinghy events.

-- BERNAMA