HANGZHOU – National men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia made up for his failure in the team event last week by eliminating Hong Kong’s Angus Ng in the opening round of the individual event at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games here today.
However, the 25-year-old former All-England champion had to slog for over an hour as he bounced back from a first-game deficit to beat Angus 15-21, 21-15, 21-16 at the Binjiang Gymnasium.
Zii Jia told reporters that today’s victory had given him an extra boost of confidence as he had lost all four previous matches against Angus.
“I have blocked out whatever happened in the team event. I need to be professional, there’s no time to wallow in self-pity.
“I am happy I won today, because I lost to Ka Long previously. I did not think too much…I just didn’t want to give up.
“It’s just that sometimes, it’s not your day. I need to take heart from this performance and continue to be confident,” he told reporters here today.
Zii Jia will take on Timor Leste’s Maurinho Gusmao de Jesus in the second round.
Malaysian men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik also had to huff and puff for 90 minutes before subduing the Taiwanese pair of Lu Ching-Yao-Yang Po-Han 21-23, 21-13, 23-21 in their first-round match.
“It was a tough match…I even thought that we would lose! They (the Taiwanese pair) are a tough nut to crack but we stayed focused,” said Aaron.
Aaron-Wooi Yik will face Thailand’s Supak Jomkoh-Supissara Paewsampran in round two.
Meanwhile, there was more good news for Malaysia when the mixed doubles pair of Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei outplayed Singapore’s Andy Jun-Crystal Wong 21-17, 21-13 in just 40 minutes to set up a second-round clash against either India’s Krishna Prasad Garaga-Tanisha Crasto or Macau’s Lok Chong Leong-Ng Weng Chi in the second round on Wednesday.
National women’s singles shuttler Goh Jin Wei needed just 21 minutes to dispose of Pakistan’s Ghazala Siddique 21-10, 21-4 and set up a second-round date with Vietnam’s Vu Thu Anh Thu.
Meanwhile, national mixed doubles pair Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie did not even have to lift their racquets as they breezed into the second round after India’s Rohan Kapoor-Sikki Reddy Nelakurthi conceded a walkover due to injury.
However, it was the end of the road for men’s doubles pair Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi after they lost 16-21, 19-21 to Taiwan’s Lee Yang-Wang Chi-Lin. – Bernama, October 2, 2023
