NATIONAL women’s doubles shuttlers Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah gave the national contingent a huge shot in the arm with a stunning victory over world number six Mayu Matsumoto-Wakana Nagahara of Japan on Day Two of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The world number 13 Malaysians produced an energetic and aggressive performance to bounce back from a game down to defeat the 2018 and 2019 world champions from Japan 18-21, 21-15, 21-16 in a Group A match at the Porte De La Chapelle Arena.
The win has revived the Malaysians’ hopes of advancing to the quarter-finals after their opening Group A loss to world number one Chen Qing-Jia Yi Fan of China yesterday.
However, the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games gold medallists face another titanic task as they will be up against world number nine Apriyani Rahayu-Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti of Indonesia in their final group match on Tuesday (July 30).
Their stunning victory today proved to be just the right tonic for the national badminton camp as it inspired men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik and mixed doubles pair Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei to confirm their quarter-final sports after notching their second consecutive group wins.
Aaron-Wooi Yik, the bronze medallists from the 2020 Tokyo edition, had no problems disposing of Adam Dong-Nyl Yakura of Canada 21-10, 21-15 in Group A.
However, the 2022 world champions must overcome world number one Liang Wei Keng-Wang Chang of China tomorrow (July 29) to enjoy an easier path in the knockout round.
In Group G of the mixed doubles event, Tang Jie-Ee Wei downed Americans Vinson Chiu-Jeannie Gai 21-15, 24-22 but can expect a stiffer test from Asian champions Feng Yang Zhe-Huang Dong Ping of China tomorrow (July 29).
The majestic arena, with an 8,000-seating capacity, also saw national men’s singles ace Lee Zii Jia kickstart his campaign for an Olympic gold medal by outplaying world number 70 Viren Nettasinghe of Sri Lanka 21-14, 21-12 in Group G.
Zii Jia will enjoy a day’s rest before returning to action against Spain’s world number 62 Pablo Abian, who is making his fifth Olympic appearance.
However, there was no such luck for the national archery recurve trio of Ariana Nur Dania Mohamad Zairi, Syaqiera Mashayikh and Nurul Azreena Mohd Fazil in the women’s team event at Invalides.
The Malaysian trio went down 5-3 to the Indonesia trio of Diananda Choirunisa, Syifa Nurafifah Kamal and Rezza Octavia in the 1/8 elimination round and will be hoping to have better luck in the individual event, which starts on Tuesday (July 30).
Meanwhile, the national contingent’s challenge in the pool at the Arena La Defense ended today after 18-year-old swimmer Tan Rouxin could only finish in 33rd spot with a time of one minute and 12.50 seconds in the women’s 100-metre (m) breaststroke heats.
Yesterday, Khiew Hoe Yean also bowed out of the Olympics in the men’s 400m freestyle heats.
On Day Three tomorrow, former world junior badminton champion Goh Jin Wei will open her Olympic campaign in Group H by taking on Johanita Scholtz of South Africa in women’s singles.
Meanwhile, Malaysian chef de mission Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin said they would always prioritise the safety of the national contingent and take precautionary measures when commenting on reports that the Main Press Centre (MPC) in Palais de Congres here was temporarily shut down on Saturday (July 27) because of an “explosion risk”.
He said that, in addition to the 26 athletes and 40 officials from the national contingent, 25 media practitioners from Malaysia, including the Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama), broadcast rights holders, contingent media personnel and international news organisations, are on duty in Paris.
