THAI badminton star Kunlavut Vitidsarn, or View, sealed his finals berth after defeating Malaysia’s national badminton player Lee Zii Jia today (Aug. 4) and will now bring home either a gold or silver Olympics medal – the first ever badminton medal for the country, Naewna newspaper said.
Bookrak Ponsana was the last Thai shuttler to reach the semi-finals of men’s singles at the Athens Olympics in 2004.
Kunlavut knocked out China’s top-ranked player Shi Yuki in the quarter-finals last Friday.
In the first set, View struggled against Lee in the first half, but then began to control the game and prevailed. View did better in the second set leading 11-5 but the Malaysian shuttler, who now had nothing to lose, stepped up the game but the Thai shuttler managed to stay ahead and won the match with scores of 21-14 and 21-15 respectively.
This is an important victory for Thai sports as View is the first Thai badminton player to reach the Olympics finals and assured of getting either a gold or a silver medal.
This final match will be played tomorrow evening but the exact time has not been set.
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Top and Front Page: Kunlavut Vitidsarn, or View. Photos: Naewna
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