Zii Jia defeats Antonsen to cruise into semis in style

 

Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia in action against Denmark’s Anders Antonsen during their men’s singles badminton match at the 2024 Paris Olympics. (AP pic)

PARIS: 

The country’s professional men’s singles player, Lee Zii Jia successfully advanced to the semifinals of the 2024 Paris Olympics, eliminating Anders Antonsen from Denmark in straight sets, here today.

In the quarterfinal action at the Porte de La Chapelle Arena, Zii Jia registered a 21-17, 21-15 victory over the world No 3 ranked player who is also his good friend, to continue his recent streak of wins in major tournaments.

The victory thus helped Zii Jia close the gap on the meeting record with Antonsen, with the Malaysian player having won four out of nine matches, between the two so far.

In Sunday’s semifinal, Zii Jia will meet 2023 world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn from Thailand, who pulled off a sensational surprise by eliminating the world No 1 player from China, Shi Yu Qi in a jaw-dropping 21-12, 21-10 straight sets victory.

Zii Jia advanced to the quarterfinal after eliminating the host nation’s Toma Junior Popov 21-13, 24-22 in the last 16 yesterday, thus improving his performance at the Tokyo 2020 Games, when he lost to the Chinese champion, Chen Long at the last 16 stage. - FMT