Lee Zii Jia is now Malaysia’s sole gold medal hope in the Olympic badminton tournament after an impressive win over Anders Antonsen in the men’s singles quarterfinals.
Despite his current standing as the world No. 7, Lee entered Friday’s last-eight tie as the underdog against Antonsen — who currently sits three places above him in the rankings.
But with an outstanding display, Lee would prevail 21-17 21-15 to advance to the semifinals, where he will meet Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn for a spot in the gold medal match.
Earlier in the day, Malaysia had another chance to be guaranteed for a medal in the women’s doubles — only for Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan to be defeated by China’s Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan in the semifinals.
After dropping the first game, Tan and Thinaah rallied to force a decider but would ultimately succumb to their heavily-fancied opponents 12-21 21-18 15-21.
The Malaysian duo still have a chance of picking up a bronze medal, provided they can overcome the Japanese duo of Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida on Saturday.
Likewise, there was similar disappointment for Malaysia in the men’s doubles as Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik lost 19-21 21-15 17-21 to top seeds Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang of China.
Chia and Soh can still retain the bronze medal they won in Tokyo, provided they can overcome the Danish duo of Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen.
Singapore’s hopes of joining regional rivals Malaysia in the men’s singles semifinals came to an end after Loh Kean Yew was defeated 21-9 21-17 by reigning gold medallist Viktor Axelsen.
Loh, who is known to share a close friendship with Denmark’s Axelsen, was under the pump in the first game but mustered more of a fight thereafter — although he was ultimately unable to pull off second consecutive upset after stunning China’s Li Shifeng in the round of 16.
