KUALA LUMPUR, June 10 — The dream of national men’s singles player Lee Zii Jia to score a hat trick in the tournaments he contested since last month was in tatters after he was eliminated in the Indonesia Masters Badminton championships quarter-finals today.
Held at Istora Senayan Stadium, Jakarta, Zii Jia’s progress was cut short by Indonesia’s Anthony Sinisuka Ginting 21-18, 16-21, 15-21 in a match which lasted 69 minutes.
In the first set, Zii Jia as the fifth seed of the tournament started aggressively by rattling up five points before Ginting attempted to catch up but Zii Jia managed to wrap it up 21-18.
In the second set, the 2022 Badminton Asia and Thailand Open champion entered a error-streak which Ginting capitalised to win 16-21 forcing the match into a rubber set.
Fanned by the local crowd, Ginting played like a man possesed to clinch the third set 15-21.
Meanwhile, national women’s doubles duo Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah turned out to be the only Malaysians to advance to the semi-finals after disposing Thailand’s Jongkolphan Kititharakul-Rawinda Prajongjai in straight sets, 21-11, 21-16.
Pearly-Thinaah are expected to meet seventh seeds, Apriyani Rahayu-Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti of Indonesia who upset the second seeds from Korea Selatan, Lee So Hee-Shin Seung Chan 15-21 21-16 21-16.
In the meantime, national men’s top doubles pair, Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik’s hunt for their maiden title remained unfulfilled as they lost to China’s Liang Wei Keng-Wang Chang 21-16, 13-21, 17-21.
Another national men’s doubles pair, Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzudin Rusmani also met a similar fate after losing to the tournament’s top seeds Marcus Fernaldi Gideon-Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia 21-10, 11-21, 18-21. — Bernama
