KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's challenge for Olympic gold in badminton doubles ended at the semi-final stage in Paris today.
Though this was premature for Malaysia's passionate and expectant fans, the outcome was predictable.
Underdogs Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah were up against China's world No. 1 women's pair Chen Qing Chen-Jia Yi Fan.
Though the Malaysians lost, no pride was lost. Pearly-Thinaah gave the top dogs a scare before going down 21-12, 18-21, 21-15 in the last four at the Porte de la Chapelle Arena.
The world No. 12 were not expected to survive the Group of Death in the initial stage, but yet punched above their weight to reach the semi-finals.
Although Pearly-Thinaah are not in the final, they may just still return with a medal if they win the bronze playoff against Japanese pair Chiharu Shida-Nami Matsuyama tomorrow.
Malaysian sports fans suffered another heartbreak after former world champions Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik were shown the exit by world No. 1 Liang Wei Keng-Wang Chang of China in their semi-final clash.
The world No. 3 duo fought well to win the second game after losing the first, but ultimately went down 21-19, 15-21, 21-17.
Aaron-Wooi Yik, nonetheless, will get a chance to retain their Tokyo 2020 bronze medal in the playoff on Sunday when they take on Anders Rasmussen-Kim Astrup of Denmark.
Fan favourite Lee Zii Jia is the last man standing in badminton for Malaysia, and he's expected to keep the Jalur Gemilang flying in Paris with a win over Denmark's Anders Antonsen in the men's singles quarter-finals later at 1.55am, and march into the final four.
Malaysia's challenge in archery in Paris also ended today after the last representative, Nurul Azreena Fazil, was eliminated in the first round of the women's individual following a 6-0 defeat by Elif Berra Gokkir from Turkiye.
In golf, Gavin Green is competing in the second round of the men's individual event at Le Golf National.
In sailing, Khairulnizam Mohd Afendy's campaign continued to show progress at Marina Marseille. He placed 29th out of 43 sailors in race three, and still has race four to go.
Meanwhile, Nur Shazrin Latif is competing in race three of the women's dinghy event.
Results
Archery
Women's individual first round: Elif Berra Gokkir (Tur) bt Nurul Azreena Fazil (Mas) 6-0
Badminton
Men's doubles semifinals: Liang Wei Keng-Wang Chang (Chn) bt Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik 21-19, 15-21, 21-17
Women's doubles semifinals: Chen Qing Chen-Jia Yi Fan (Chn) bt Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah 21-18, 18-21, 21-15,
Sailing
Men's dinghy, race three: Khairulnizam Mohd Afendy 29th
Malaysians in action tomorrow (Aug 3)
Athletics
100m heats
4:35pm: Azeem Fahmi
Women's doubles bronze medal match
9pm: Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah v
Chiharu Shida-Nami Matsuyama
(Jpn)
Golf
Men's individual stroke play, round 3,
3.00pm: Gavin Green
Sailing
Men's dinghy, races 5-6
6.15pm: Khairulnizam Afendy
Women's dinghy, races 5-6
8.25pm: Nur Shazrin Latif