PETALING JAYA: Malaysia's hopes of adding another badminton medal to their Youth Olympic Games collection ended in disappointment after sole representative Lucas Lee crashed out in the group stage in Dakar, Senegal.
The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) shuttler Lucas needed to beat reigning Badminton Asia Under-17 champion Riyan Malhan of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in his final Group F match to secure a quarter-final berth.
However, the Malaysian boys' singles shuttler fell short against Riyan, losing 15-21, 11-21 at the Dakar Arena on Tuesday (Nov 3).
The defeat left Lucas second in Group F despite having won his earlier matches against Greece's Ioannis Sarougiannidis and Sweden's Felus Ding.
Only the group winners advanced to the quarter-finals.
Malaysia last tasted badminton success at the Youth Olympics in 2018, when Goh Jin Wei captured gold in the girls' singles at the Buenos Aires Games.
Cheam June Wei also struck gold at the 2014 edition in Nanjing, where he partnered Hong Kong's Ng Tsz Yau in the mixed doubles event.
