National men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia advanced to the last-16 of the Paris 2024 Olympics with a 21-10, 21-13 victory over Spain’s Pablo Abian. The win came in his second Group G match, held at the Adidas Arena in Port de la Chapelle.
The opening set was closely contested until Zii Jia gained a three-point lead at 13-10 and finished with an eight-point surge. In the second set, although Abian, 39, initially led, the 26-year-old Zii Jia equalized at 10-10 and 11-11, then moved ahead to win 19-12.
Zii Jia is eager to build on his previous Olympic experience, where he was eliminated in the last 16 by China’s Chen Long during his debut at Tokyo 2020. With a strong resolve to surpass that performance, Zii Jia is focused on advancing further in the Paris 2024 Games. His goal is to demonstrate significant improvement and achieve a deeper run in the tournament this time around.
“I have entered the last 16 in the Olympics again. Hopefully, I will get a better result in this Olympics,” said Zii Jia in his post-match interview with the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
World No. 7 Lee Zii Jia is set to face French shuttler Toma Popov in the last 16 of the Paris Olympics today (Aug 1 at 8.10pm). Zii Jia was initially slated to face Indonesia’s world No. 9 Anthony Ginting. However, Ginting was unexpectedly eliminated by Toma Popov, who secured a 19-21, 21-17, 15-21 victory in their final Group H match on Wednesday (July 31). Consequently, Zii Jia will now compete against Popov in the last 16 of the Paris Olympics. Zii Jia has a perfect track record against Popov, having defeated him in all four of their previous encounters.
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