He bounced back from a game down to outlast India’s Lakshya Sen 13-21, 21-16, 21-11 in an energy-sapping 71-minute third-placing playoff at the Porte de La Chapelle Arena today.

It was Zii Jia’s first Olympic medal, after being eliminated in the last-16 round at the Tokyo 2021 Olympics.

Zii Jia’s victory today comes on the heels of the men’s doubles victory yesterday when Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik won the bronze medal – Malaysia’s first at the Paris Games – by defeating Denmark’s Anders Skaarup Rasmussen-Kim Astrup in another gripping three-game match.

In the third-place playoff today, world number 22 Lakshya dominated the proceedings in the first game as Zii Jia struggled to find his footing. Lakshya opened a 10-4 lead in the first game and was able to maintain the comfortable cushion.

Things looked bleak at the start of the second game as the 26-year-old Malaysian found himself trailing 3-8 but Zii Jia recovered to go on an unanswered nine-point run to take a 12-8 lead.

He didn’t look back as he punished Lakshya with some wonderful power play to force a rubber game. His confidence boosted, world number seven Zii Jia continued from where he left off to clinch his maiden Olympic medal. During the decider, Lakshya picked up an elbow injury and was forced to seek treatment.

Today’s victory was Zii Jia’s second win over Lakshya in five meetings and it ended his rival’s hopes of becoming the first Indian to win a men’s badminton Olympic medal.

Zii Jia is the third Malaysian to have won an Olympic medal in the men’s singles event, after Rashid Sidek (bronze, 1996) and Lee Chong Wei (silver, 2008, 2012 and 2016).