KUALA LUMPUR – National badminton star Lee Zii Jia takes another step in defending his All England crown after defeating Canada’s Brian Yang 26-24, 21-11 at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham earlier today, booking himself a spot in the quarter-finals.
Both players displayed strong offensive play in the first set, but Zii Jia prevailed to take the set in 28 minutes.
The Kedah-born shuttler kept his composure to make quick work of the 33rd seed Yang in the second set as he took control and won 21-11.
This was the third meeting between the two, with Zii Jia winning previous encounters.
Zii Jia will either face South Korea’s Heo Kwang Hee or rival Kento Momota of Japan in the quarter-finals tomorrow.
Meanwhile, national women’s pair Pearly Tan-Thinaah Muralitharan moved on to the quarter-finals after coming from behind to defeat Japanese pair Rin Iwanaga-Kie Nakanishi 18-21, 21-19, 21-16.
They will take on South Korea’s Jeong Na Eun-Kim Hye Jeong tomorrow.
However, 11th ranked men’s doubles team Teo Ee Yi-Ong Yew Sin failed to progress to the next round after losing to 28th seed Bagas Maulana-Muhammad Shohibul Fikri 22-24, 21-13, 17-21.
Mixed doubles pair Hoo Pang Ron-Cheah Yee See were also knocked out by fifth seed Indonesian duo Praveen Jordan-Melati Daeva Oktavianti 16-21, 14-21.
At the same time, veteran player Daren Liew’s campaign came to an end after losing to world number four Chou Tien-Chen of Taiwan 21-18, 13-21, 9-21. – The Vibes, March 18, 2022
