MALAYSIA are now the proud owners of two bronze medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
National men’s singles professional shuttler Lee Zii Jia delivered the latest bronze when he bounced back from a game down to outlast India’s Lakshya Sen 13-21, 21-16, 21-11 in an energy-sapping 71-minute third-placing playoff at the Porte de La Chapelle Arena today.
World number 22 Lakshya dominated the proceedings in the first game as Zii Jia struggled to find his footing.
Things looked bleak at the start of the second game as the 26-year-old Malaysian found himself trailing 3-8.
But, as they say, when the going gets tough, the tough gets going. And that’s exactly what Zii Jia did as he reeled off nine points in a row to take a 12-8 lead.
Zii Jia was now in the driver’s seat and he never looked back as he punished Lakshya with some wonderful power play to force a rubber game.
His confidence boosted, world number seven Zii Jia continued from where he left off to send Lakshya, who picked up an elbow injury during the game, packing and clinched his maiden Olympic medal - a bronze.
This is Zii Jia’s second win over Lakshya in five meetings and it ended his rival’s hopes of becoming the first male shuttler from India to win an Olympic medal.
In yesterday’s semi-finals, Zii Jia fell 14-21, 15-21 to 2023 world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand while Lakshya went down 20-22, 14-21 to defending champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark.
Zii Jia, who lost to China’s Chen Long in the last 16 on his Olympic debut in Tokyo 2020, is the third Malaysian men’s singles shuttler to have won an Olympic medal.
Datuk Rashid Sidek won a bronze in the 1996 edition in Atlanta while Datuk Lee Chong Wei clinched three straight silver medals in Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016.
Yesterday, men’s doubles aces Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik delivered the first medal for Malaysia at Paris 2024 when they clawed their way back from the brink of defeat to overcome Danes Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen 16-21, 22-20, 21-19.
