PARIS, Aug 5 — After over a week, the Malaysian contingent finally opened their medal account at the Paris Olympics through men’s doubles shuttlers Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik last night.
On the ninth day of the Games, Aaron-Wooi Yik made a dramatic comeback in the bronze decider to defeat Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark.
The 2022 world champions, who were trailing 16-20 in the second set, managed to close a four-point deficit to force a deciding set and ultimately won 16-21, 22-20, 21-19 at the Porte de La Chapelle Arena, defending their Tokyo 2020 bronze.
Malaysia has a chance to add to its medal tally today, with pro shuttler Lee Zii Jia to compete in the men’s singles bronze decider against India’s Lakshya Sen.
Earlier, Zii Jia, who came in with hopes for gold, had to abandon his dream after losing 14-21, 15-21 to 2023 world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand.
However, Zii Jia must be at his best when facing Lakshya, who led defending champion Viktor Axelsen twice before losing 20-22, 14-21 in another semi final.
At Le Golf National, national putter Gavin Kyle Green finished 33rd with a score of three under par 281, tied with Paraguay’s Fabrizio Zanotti, after four rounds.
In the final round today, he shot two under par 69 to improve five positions from the previous day.
Meanwhile, national road cyclist Nur Aisyah Mohamad Zubir’s Olympic debut ended in disappointment when she failed to finish her race.
Nur Aisyah, who is Malaysia’s first female road cyclist at the Olympics, cited cramps in both legs as the reason for her withdrawal.
At Marseille Marina, sailors Khairulnizam Mohd Afendy and Nur Shazrin Mohamad Latif are in 32nd place (168 penalty points) and 34th place (182 penalty points) respectively in the men’s ILCA 7 and women’s ILCA 6 single-handed dinghy events after eight races to date.
Both sailors will continue their challenge in the ninth and 10th races tomorrow, with only the top 10 advancing to the medal round tomorrow.
— Bernama
