Zii Jia’s All England campaign comes to an end

 

Lee Zii Jia went down 22-20, 16-21, 19-21 in the match played at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham yesterday. (AP pic)

PETALING JAYA: Professional men’s singles player Lee Zii Jia’s run in the All England badminton championship came to an end yesterday after he lost to India’s Lakshya Sen in the quarterfinals.

The world No 10, who won the All England crown in 2021, went down 22-20, 16-21, 19-21 in the match played at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham, Kosmo reported.

Zii Jia, who crushed 2021 world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in straight games in the previous round, failed to keep the momentum going against his Indian opponent, who is ranked 18th in the world.

This is Zii Jia’s fourth loss in five matches against Sen, with the Indian player having won their last encounter at the Indonesian Open last June.

However, there was some good news as the national top men’s doubles pair, Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik made it through to the semifinals.

They are the only Malaysians remaining in the competition after defeating Indonesia’s Muhammad Shohibul Fikri-Bagas Maulana, 21-14, 21-11 in just 31 minutes in the quarterfinals last night.

Aaron-Wooi Yik’s will meet Taiwanese pair, Lee Jhe-Huei-Yang Po-Hsuan, in the semifinals. - FMT