Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik came from behind to stun Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty and book a Paris Olympics semis berth, and shortly after that Lee Zii Jia also won in a joyous day for the country.

First it was national men's doubles Chia-Soh who joined their fellow national counterparts Pearly Tan-M.Thinaah in the semis after coming from behind to defeat their third seeded opponents 13-21, 21-14, 21-16.

In doing so, the Malaysians ended their three-match losing streak against Satwiksairaj-Shetty that began last year.

More importantly, Chia-Soh will go into their match against China's world number one pair Liang Wei Keng-Wang Chang looking to go further than the semis which they achieved at the Tokyo Olympics.

Against Satwiksairaj-Shetty, the Malaysians did not start well and allowed the Indians to dominate for the lead.
But that defeat seemed to spark a fire in Chia-Soh, who began to assert their dominance in the second game.

Lee Zii Jia OLY has advanced to the quarter finals of the Men’s Singles, overcoming home crowd favourite Toma Junior Popov of France 21-13, 24-22, earning himself a clash with Anders Antonsen of Denmark in the last eight tomorrow.#OlympicMAS #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/N8G4lUC1Vh
— Olympic Malaysia ??? (@olympicmas) August 1, 2024

Once they recovered from a 0-4 deficit, Chia-Soh found the confidence they needed to apply the pressure and force the Indians into mistakes.

With the second game clinched comfortably, it went to a decider and this was when Chia-Soh used their experience to force Satwiksairaj-Shetty into submission.

The Indian pair always looked nervous receiving the Malaysians serve and that swung the momentum in their favour.

Lee made it a perfect day for Malaysia after the seventh seed sent Frenchman Toma Junior Popov packing 21-13, 24-22.

This tie was going to be a banana skin for Lee against the home shuttler who had the full backing of the home crowd and came into this match having beaten Indonesia's Anthony Ginting.

But Lee was dominant in the first game to take the comfortable lead, and sealed victory in the second game despite a valiant attempt from Popov who saved two match points.

Lee will go on to face Denmark's Anders Antonsen in the last eight on Friday (9pm), whom he beat in their last meeting at the Malaysia Masters in May.

Credit Photo: MOM