KUALA LUMPUR, April 28 — Malaysia’s top men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia downed Indonesia’s Shesar Hiren Rhustavito with a hard-fought 21-14, 22-20 win to storm into the last eight of the Badminton Asia Championships (BAC) 2022 in Manila, Philippines, today.

After a convincing first-game win in the second round match, world number seven Zii Jia faced a torrid time in the second game before surviving by the skin of his teeth to advance into the quarter-finals at the Muntinlupa Sports Complex.

The third-seeded Zii Jia will take on Kanta Tsuneyama for a place in tomorrow’s semi-finals after the eighth-seeded Japanese knocked out Tien Minh Nguyen of Vietnam 21-9, 21-10.

Meanwhile, Indonesian fourth seed Jonatan Christie shattered Liew Daren’s hopes of going further when he defeated Malaysia’s professional shuttler  21-14, 13-21, 21-19.

It was also the end of the road for national number one women’s singles ace S Kisona, who went down 18-21, 14-21 to fifth seed He Bing Jao of China.

In men’s doubles, Tokyo Olympic 2020 bronze medallists Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik defeated Singaporeans Danny Bawa Chrisnanta-Jun Liang Andy Kwek 21-16, 21-19 for a quarter-final date with India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty.

Satwiksairaj-Chirag had earlier sent Japan’s Akira Koga-Taichi Saito packing 21-17, 21-15.

German Open 2022 champions Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani made it a double delight for Malaysia when they too checked into the men’s doubles last eight.

The Malaysians eliminated Kang Minhyuk-Kim Wonho of South Korea 21-17, 21-17 and will meet Ren Xiang Yu-Tan Qiang after the unseeded Chinese pair pulled off a huge upset by ousting top seeds Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia 21-9, 21-15.

However, 2021 World Championships men’s doubles bronze medallists Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi suffered a shock exit at the hands of young Indonesian pair Pramudya Kusumawardana-Yeremia Erich Yoche Yacob Rambitan 16-21, 21-18, 16-21 in a tense 52-minute battle.

There was also joy for top national women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-M Thinaah when they too checked into the quarter-finals after disposing of Hong Kong’s Yeung Nga Ting-Yeung Pui Lam 21-13, 23-21 in 33 minutes.

Fourth seeds Yuki Fukushima-Sayaka Hirota await the seventh-seeded Pearly-Thinaah next after the Japanese pair overcame Chasinee Korepap-Jhenicha Sudjaipraparat of Thailand 21-13, 21-18.

Independent mixed doubles duo Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie, however, failed to clear their second-round hurdle, losing 19-21, 21-16, 13-21 to Japan’s Yuki Kaneko-Misaki Matsutomo.

Other second-round results (Note: Malaysians unless stated)

Men’s doubles:

Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun bt Christian Bernardo-Paul John Pantig (PHI) 21-7, 21-12

Women’s doubles:

Chen Qing Chen-Jia Yi Fan (CHN) bt Anna Ching Yik Cheong-Teoh Mei Xing 21-18, 21-16

Mixed doubles:

Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing bt Ishaan Bhatnagar-Tanisha Crasto (IND) 21-18, 21-18

Wang Yi Lyu-Huang Dong Ping (CHN) bt Chen Tang Jie-Peck Yen Wei 21-9, 21-19 — Bernama