BANGKOK: National professional men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia downed South Korea’s Jeon Hyeok-jin 22-20, 21-7 to storm into the quarterfinals of the Thailand Open at the Nimibutr Stadium here today.
The sixth-seeded Zii Jia took just 36 minutes to win the second-round tie and set up a quarterfinal date against China’s world No 19 Lu Guang Zu tomorrow.
The Kedahan said he expects a tough match against Guang Zu.
“As we all know, Guang Zu is a very good defensive and rally player…it’s going to be a tough game due to the draught in the arena while the shuttlecock is a bit slow,” he said.
World No 10 Zii Jia was the only bright spark for Malaysia in today’s second-round matches as the other national players fell by the wayside.
National men’s singles shuttler Leong Jun Hao went down fighting 22-20, 14-21, 21-23 to reigning world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand in a hard-fought one hour and 32-minute battle.
Jun Hao said although he lost, there were still many positives that he could take from the match.
“Overall, I’m satisfied with my performance today as it is always tough playing against the home favourite. I hope to put up another good performance in the Malaysia Masters next week,” he told Bernama after the match.
Earlier, two Malaysian mixed doubles pairs – Yap Roy King-Valeree Siow and Choong Hon Jian-Go Pei Kee – also crashed out of the tournament.
Roy King-Valeree went down 11-21, 16-21 to top seeds Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand while Hon Jian-Pei Kee lost 15-21, 15-21 to the tournament’s seventh-seed Rehan Naufal Kusharjanto-Lisa Ayu Kusumawati of Indonesia.
