PARIS, Aug 4 — Malaysia must wait at least one more day to see the glitter of its first medal at the Olympics.
On the eighth day of the Paris Games, Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah’s hopes of a medal were dashed despite making history as the country’s first women’s badminton doubles pair to advance to the Olympic semi finals.
Pearly-Thinaah, world No. 12, lost their bronze medal playoff 11-21, 11-21 to world No. 4 Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida of Japan at the Porte de La Chapelle Arena here.
However, Malaysia could make the podium as early as today, when Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik play in the men’s doubles bronze medal battle against world No. 2 Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark.
Aaron-Wooi Yik, bronze medallists in the previous edition, have won seven times and lost on four occasions against the Danes.
Men’s badminton singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia will also play in the semi finals against 2023 world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn from Thailand, who made waves by knocking out world No. 1 Shi Yu Qi of China in straight sets, 21-12, 21-10.
Zii Jia, who advanced by defeating world No. 3 Anders Antonsen of Denmark 21-17, 21-15 on Friday, can guarantee at least silver if he can win in the final four.
Meanwhile, sprinter Muhammad Azeem Mohd Fahmi, in his Olympic debut, failed to get past the first round after finishing last in the race, clocking 10.45s at the Stade de France, well below his National record of 10.09s.
Only the top three runners in the eights, along with the three other athletes with the fastest times, qualify for the semi finals.
The 20-year-old, who finished the preliminary heat in second place with a time of 10.42s, admitted to a slight slip in the beginning and promised to perform better in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Off the track, pro golfer Gavin Kyle Green managed to jump eight ranks to tie for 38th with five others after carding a one-under-par 212 score after the men’s singles third round at Le Golf National.
In yesterday’s action, 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
