ARCHERY
Ariana Nur Dania Mohamad Zairi narrowly missed a spot in the 1/16 elimination round on her Olympic debut, losing in the single arrow shoot off tiebreaker to Italy’s Chiara Rebagliati, the 2022 World Games gold medallist (27-27, 24-25, 27-28, 28-29, 27-29, 9-10) at the Invalides. Rebagliati eventually lost to Romania’s Madalina Amaistroaie in the 1/16 round.
BADMINTON
Chen Tang Jie/Toh Ee Wei’s journey at Paris 2024 ended in the quarterfinals of the Mixed Doubles event when they lost the first set in a hard-fought battle and struggled in the second set, ultimately losing 19-21, 14-21 to South Korean pair, Kim Won Ho/Jeong Na Eun. Ee Wei clearly suffered from back pains during the first set in an attempt to retrieve the shuttle which affected her performance.
Lee Zii Jia OLY won his second game to advance to the Round of 16 as the winner of Men’s Singles Group G, taking just 34 minutes to defeat veteran Pablo Abian from Spain 21–10, 21–13.
Goh Jin Wei will return home today after putting up a commendable fight against the world no. 17 player, Kim Ga Eun from South Korea, narrowly losing 17-21, 22-20, 21-23. She finished the group stage as the runner-up, but only the group champion advanced to the Round of 16.
WHAT TO EXPECT – 1 AUGUST 2024
At the Marseille Marina, two veteran sailors – Khairulnizam Mohd Afendy OLY and the Paris 2024 Contingent flagbearer Nur Shazrin Mohamad Latif OLY begin their campaign today. Following are their profiles:
KHAIRULNIZAM MOHD AFENDY
Date of Birth: 27 May, 1993
Age: 31 years old
Height: 182cm
Weight: 86kg
Trivia: The Chef de Mission, Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin, happens to be his uncle by marriage.
Education: Diploma in Sport Science UiTM & Bachelor Degree in Sport Science UiTM
Motivation: For the fourth successive time, Nizam has qualified for the Olympics on merit, not on the wildcard ticket, despite the lack of support ahead of the Paris mission.
NUR SHAZRIN MOHAMAD LATIF
Date of Birth: 2 February 1998
Age: 26 years old
Height: 167cm
Weight: 74kg
Trivia: She loves to cook
Motivation: Waving the flag high during the Opening Ceremony as the Malaysian Contingent cruised along the River Seine, Nur Shazrin is determined to better her previous two performances in Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.
ARCHERY
Bad weather on Wednesday forced the postponement of the Paris Olympic women’s recurve round of 32 battle between Malaysia’s Nurul Azreena Mohd Fazil and Turkiye’s Elif Gokkir. An engineering student, Azreena is hoping to prolong Malaysia’s interest in archery event after the elimination of her compatriots, Ariana Nur Dania Mohamad Zairi and Syaqiera Mashayikh, OLY under the sweltering heat at the Esplanade des Invalides.
BADMINTON
Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah are set to face reigning bronze medallists and world No 10 pair, Kim So Yeong-Kong Hee Yong of South Korea in the last eight. In their only previous encounter, the Koreans won in the 2021 World Tour Finals. If world No. 12 Pearly/Thinaah pull off a win, they will play either China’s world No. 1 Chen Qingchen-Jia Yifan or Bulgarian sisters and world No. 21 Gabriela Stoeva-Stefani Stoeva in the last four.
Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik will clash with Hangzhou Asian Games 2022 old medallists Chirag Shetty-Satwiksairaj Rankireddy in the Men’s Doubles quarter-final. The Malaysian pair, bronze medallists in Tokyo 2020, won eight out of their previous 11 meetings but lost their last three encounters against the fast-attacking Indian pair. If the Malaysian duo win, they will take on top seeds and world No. 1 Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang of China in the semi-finals.
Men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia OLY will face Frenchman Toma Popov in the last 16, as the latter upset world No. 9 Anthony Ginting of Indonesia. Zii Jia, who finished top of Group G after defeating Spain’s Pablo Abian, has beaten Popov in all their past four meetings.
