Kunlavut Vitidsarn emerged as Thailand’s first men’s singles player to see action in the Olympic finals after putting up a commanding display to overwhelm Malaysian Lee Zii Jia in the semifinals of the men’s singles badminton competition at Arena de la Chappelle.
The 23-year-old reigning world champion was clearly the better player throughout the encounter as he overcame Lee in straight games of 21-14, 21-15 in just 51 minutes.
The Thai badminton star will take on reigning Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen in tomorrow’s final clash as the Dane attempts to clinch his second consecutive Olympic victory and become the first European player to win a back-to-back Olympic gold.
Lin Dan of China remains the only player who has won two consecutive Olympic gold medals in Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Games.
Viktor ended India’s high hopes of a historic gold medal after overcoming Lakshya Sen in a dramatic and highly-intense two-game battle which saw the Dane coming back from behind to emerge victorious.
Both Zii Jia and Sen have another chance to redeem themselves as they battle for the bronze medal tomorrow.
Stepping into the courts on an even score of 4-4, Vitidsarn and Zii Jia played cautiously in the early parts of the game. Later as the game progressed further, it was clear that Vitidsarn was the aggressor, dominating the courts with Lee finding himself unable to keep up with and eventually losing 21-14, 21-15 in 50 minutes.
I gave and threw everything at Kunlavut but he was just at the top of his form today,” said Zii Jia on the match.
It was a dramatic and hard-fought battle as Sen failed to sustain his huge lead in both games, allowing Axelsen to claw back and eventually walk away as winner.
From trailing 13-18 in the first game, Axelsen got his act together to level the score to 20-20 before winning 22-20 over the Indian.
It was the same case in the second game as Sen took a 7-0 lead advantage, only for Axelsen to claw back and levelled terms before taking an 18-14 lead and finishing off the second game 21-14 in 53 minutes.
“It was by far my toughest match here in Paris…Lakshya played well in both games, but I managed to keep calm and got back into the game,” said Axelsen.
