KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s professional badminton player Lee Zii Jia stormed into the quarter-finals of the Indonesia Open 2024 after overcoming a strong challenge from China’s Weng Hong Yang tonight.
In the second-round clash at the iconic Istora Senayan, the world number seven Zii Jia found the going tough in the opening game and lost 20-22.
However, Zii Jia came back strongly to beat the world number 19 Hong Yang 21-9 and 21-16 in the next two games to book his quarter-final slot.
Tomorrow, Zii Jia will meet 2023 world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand, who advanced to the last eight after disposing of India’s Priyanshu Rajawat 21-10, 21-17.
Zii Jia last played Kunlavut in the men’s singles third round of the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games last year, with the 26-year-old Malaysian winning 10-21, 21-19, 21-6.
National women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah also qualified for the last eight after defeating Indonesia’s Apriyani Rahayu-Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti 21-18, 21-19. They will next meet world number one Chen Qing Chen-Jia Yi Fan of China.
The national professional mixed doubles pair of Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing also advanced to the last eight after ousting Denmark’s Mathias Christiansen-Alexandra Boje 15-21, 23-21, 21-14.
The world number 21 pair will meet eighth seeds Kim Won Ho-Jeong Na Eun of South Korea tomorrow.
Earlier in the day, three Malaysian representatives also entered the quarter-finals, namely men’s singles player Leong Jun Hao and men’s doubles pairs Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun and Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani.
