Lee Zii Jia To Play Jonatan Christie In BAC Quarters

Ningbo: Malaysia’s World No. 11 Lee Zii Jia successfully advanced to the men’s singles quarterfinals of this year’s Badminton Asia Championships. His next opponent will be this year’s All-England champion, World No. 5 Jonatan Christie of Indonesia.

Highlights of Lee Zii Jia vs. Chou Tien Chen in the 2024 Badminton Asia Championships second round:

Lee started his round of 16 matches on Thursday by defeating Taiwan’s World No. 15 Chou Tien-Chen with scores of 21-15, 21-17. With this victory, he secured his fourth win in their ninth encounter. Lee, 26, attributed his victory to maintaining composure and handling various aspects of the game calmly.

Next, Lee will face Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie on Friday. They have faced each other nine times, with Lee losing the first four encounters but winning the last five. Their most recent match was in January at the India Super 750 tournament. Jonatan defeated Hong Kong’s World No. 14 Lee Cheuk Yiu with scores of 21-14, 21-16 in the BAC second round on Thursday.

This marks Lee’s seventh tournament this year. He has reached the quarterfinals three times previously, exited in the round of 16 once, and experienced two first-round exits. It remains to be seen if he can reach the semi-finals for the first time this year. Lee won his first BAC title in 2022, and all eyes are on whether he can reclaim the title.

In addition, China’s top-seeded Shi Yuqi and fifth-seeded Li Shifeng also advanced to the quarterfinals with 2-0 victories over Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto and Wang Tzu Wei from Chinese Taipei. Their opponents in the quarterfinals will be Thailand’s world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn and Indonesia’s defending champion Anthony Sinisuka Ginting.

In men’s doubles, Malaysia achieved a 2-1 record in the round of 16 as Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik, and Goh Sze Fei/Nur Izzuddin advanced to the quarterfinals, with only Man Wei Chong/Tee Kai Wun being eliminated.

The 4th seeded pair of Chia/Soh faced a tough challenge in the round of 16 against Japan’s Kenya Mitsuhashi/Hiroki Okamura. After a grueling battle lasting 61 minutes, they emerged victorious with scores of 21-18, 14-21, 21-14 against the 25th-ranked pair in the world. Chia/Soh will face China’s Liu Yuchen and Ou Xuan Yi in the quarterfinals, expected to be another tough match. Meanwhile, Goh Sze Fei/Nur Izzuddin will play the 2020 Tokyo Olympics champions Lee Yang/Wang Chi-Lin on Friday.