KUALA LUMPUR: Professional men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia’s five games winning run against Jonatan Christie came to an end after the Indonesian booted him out of the 2024 Badminton Asia Championship in Ningbo, China yesterday.
Eighth-seeded Zii Jia had a shaky start in the opening set of their quarterfinal match as series of unforced errors caused him dearly, going down 11-21 to the third-seeded Christie.
Clearly rattled by the first set loss, the Malaysian was totally outplayed by his Indonesian rival, who won 6-21 bringing their personal head-to-head record to 5-5.
Despite Zii Jia’s defeat in the singles event, Malaysia will have a representative in the 2024 BAC men’s doubles final as national men’s doubles, Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik and Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani will play each other in the semi-finals today.
Aaron-Wooi Yik stormed to the last four following a straight set win over home duo, Liu Yu Chen-Ou Xuan Yi 21-14, 21-15. Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin, on the other hand, had to endure a grueling 68-minute battle to oust 2020 Olympic Games champions Lee Yang-Wang Chi-Lin of Taiwan 19-21, 21-19, 21-19 for their spot in the semi-final. – Bernama
