World No. 7 Lee Zii Jia saw his hopes of securing Malaysia’s first ever Olympic gold medal dashed after he lost to reigning world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn in a matchup that kept everyone on an edge.
In the first set, both sides equally traded skillful shots and kept the score relatively close. However, Zii Jia faltered towards the tail-end and lost 14-21.
The national top shuttler tried his best to mount a comeback in the second set but couldn’t seem to hold his own against Kunlavut’s powerful smashes and conceded the match 15-21
With this loss, Zii Jia will face the loser of the matchup between Demark’s Victor Axelsen and India’s Lakshya Sen in the finals on Monday (Aug 5) for the bronze medal.
Lee Zii Jia OLY has a bronze medal to play for after his hopes of earning a place in the Men’s Singles final of the XXXIII Olympic Games Paris 2024 was crushed by his good friend and 2023 World Champion, Kunlavut Vitidsarn from Thailand who won 21-14, 21-15 at the Arena Porte de… pic.twitter.com/vFKXhUA5yq
— Olympic Malaysia 🇲🇾🥇 (@olympicmas) August 4, 2024
Despite the heartbreaking loss, Zii Jia has come a long way in his Olympic journey, where he has put on his best performance to date following a hard-fought win over world No. 3 Anders Antonsen in the quarter-finals yesterday (Aug 3), marking his first time entering the semi-finals in his Olympic career.
The next matchup featuring Malaysian shuttlers are men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik, where they will be up against Denmark’s Kim Astrup-Anders Rasmussen at 9pm (Malaysia time) to defend their bronze medal, which they won during the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.
As for women’s doubles Pearly Tan-M.Thinaah, they lost out on the chance to secure bronze in their matchup against world No. 3 Matsuyama Nami and Shida Chiharu of Japan, where they were defeated in two straight sets.
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