MALAYSIA’s dream of securing its maiden Olympic gold medal was dashed today as Lee Zii Jia fell to Thailand’s reigning world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the semi-finals at the Adidas Arena in Port de la Chapelle.
The Kedah-born Zii Jia, 26, fought valiantly but could not overcome the 23-year-old Kunlavut, who registered a 21-14, 21-15 victory.
Following the defeat, Zii Jia, world-ranked No. 7, will now compete against India’s 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games gold medallist Lakshya Sen, in the bronze medal match. Lakshya lost to Denmark’s defending champion Viktor Axelsen 20-22, 14-21 in the other semi-final match.
Zii Jia had given his all, but it was not enough to beat Kunlavut, who scored several points through his powerful smashes.
Both scored straight games victories in the quarter-finals, with Kunvalut easily ousting top seed and world No. 1 Shi Yuqi of China 21-12, 21-10 while Zii Jia overcame world No. 3 Anders Antonsen of Denmark 21-17, 21-15.
A close encounter was anticipated after Zii Jia and Kunlavut had beaten each other four times in their past eight meetings. Their last encounter in the Indonesian Open two months ago saw Kunlavut winning in straight games 21-16, 21-17.
Today, both players exhibited remarkable skill and determination and exchanged powerful smashes and delicate net plays. But Kunlavut’s precision and resilience made the difference.
The consolation for Zii Jia is that he managed to reach the semi-finals in his second Olympics. At the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, he went as far as the last 16, losing to eventual Olympic gold medallist Chen Long in three games.
Malaysia is also banking on its men’s doubles pair of Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik to win a bronze medal when they compete against Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark. Aaron-Soh won the bronze medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Despite the disappointment, Zii Jia performed remarkably well at the Paris Olympics. He is currently the player Malaysia depends on to carry the baton that Lee Chong Wei passed.
Story and pix by K.H. Ong