KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's top badminton players inched closer towards the podium after showing true grit in their matches at the Paris Olympics today.
Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah created history by becoming the first Malaysian women's doubles pair to reach the semi-finals at the Olympics after defeating Kim So Yeong-Kong Hee Yong of South Korea 21-12, 21-13 at Porte de la Chapelle Arena.
They will next play world No. 1 pair Chen Qing Chen-Jia Yi Fan (China) for a spot in the final tomorrow.
Men's singles star Lee Zii Jia fended off a late fightback from home crowd favourite Toma Popov Junior (France) before securing a 21-13, 24-22 win in their round-of-16 match.
He will face Denmark's Anders Antonsen for a spot in the semi-finals tomorrow.
Men's doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik were made to sweat before clinching a come-from-behind 13-21, 21-14, 21-16 win over India's Chirag Shetty-Satwiksairaj Rankireddy in their quarterfinal match..
They will next face world No. 1 duo Liang Wei Keng-Wang Chang for a spot in the final tomorrow.
Luck, however, was not on Cheng Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei's side as they lost their mixed doubles quarterfinal match against South Korea's Kim Won Ho-Jeong Na Eun 21-19, 21-14.
Ee Wei suffered a back injury early in the match but fought on using a back brace. To their credit, the duo did not use her injury as an excuse.
In golf, Gavin Green carded a three-over 74 in the opening round of the men's individual event held at Le Golf National.
In sailing, Khairulnizam Mohd Afendy's campaign got off to a mixed start at Marina Marseille. He placed 32nd from 43 sailors in race one but picked up the pace in race two, in which he finished 15th.
He is currently 27th overall on 47 points.
Nur Shazrin Latif's women's dinghy event, however, was delayed due to poor weather.
Results:
Badminton
Men's singles, round-of-16: Lee Zii Jia def Toma Junior Popov (Fra) 21-13, 24-22
Men's doubles, quarterfinals: Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik def Chirag Shetty-Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (Ind) 13-21, 21-14, 21-16
Women's doubles, quarterfinals: Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah def Kim So Yeong-Kong Hee Yong 21-12, 21-13
Mixed doubles, quarterfinals: Kim Won Ho-Jeong Na Eun(Kor) def Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei 21-19, 21-14
Sailing
Men's Dinghy, race one: Khairulnizam Mohd Afendy 32nd
Men's Dinghy, race two: Khairulnizam Mohd Afendy 15th
Malaysians in action tomorrow (Aug 2)
Archery
Women's individual, 1/32 round: Nurul Azreena Fazil v Elif Gokkar (Tur)
Badminton
Women's doubles, semi-finals: Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah v Chen Qing Chen-Jia Yi Fan (Chn)
Men's doubles, semi-finals: Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik v Liang Wei Keng-Wang Chang (Chn)
Men's singles, quarterfinals: Lee Zii Jia v Anders Antonsen (Den)
Golf
Men's individual, round two: Gavin Green
Sailing
Men's Dinghy, three and four: Khairulnizam Mohd Afendy
Women's Dinghy, three one and four: Nur Shazrin Latif