Badminton: Malaysia's rising star Lee Zii Jia cruises into semis
Lee Zii Jia beat Srikanth Kidambi 21-19, 21-14 to reach the semi-finals of the World Tour Finals.
DENPASAR (AFP) - Malaysia s top men s badminton player Lee Zii Jia secured a spot in the semi-finals of the World Tour Finals after defeating India s Srikanth Kidambi on Friday.
The second seeded Lee beat former world number one Kidambi 21-19, 21-14 in 37 minutes in the tournament held on the popular resort island of Bali.
"It was a very exhausting match but I finally was able to win it by controlling my emotions and making less mistakes," said Lee.
In the women s singles, India s ace shuttler P.V. Sindhu, who has secured a semi-final berth, lost to Thailand s Pornpawee Chochuwong 12-21, 21-19, 14-21 in the Group A match.
Indonesia Open champions Denmark s Viktor Axelsen and South Korea s An Se Young also reached the semi-finals due to walkovers.
Olympic gold medallist Axelsen sealed his place in the last four after former world number one Kento Momota of Japan bowed out of the competition due to injury.
Meanwhile the 22-year-old An, who won the Indonesian Masters singles title in November, went through after Singapore s Yeo Jia Min dropped out of the tournament on Thursday.
Indonesia have plenty of interest remaining as the season-ending tournament enters the decisive stages.
Sadly, though, home fans are barred due to Covid-secure bubbles.
In the women s doubles, Indonesia s Olympic gold medallists Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu bounced back on Friday, the lost their game on Thursday, and reached the semi-finals after beating Malaysian pair Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan 21-18, 21-11 in 45 minutes.
In the men s doubles, Indonesia s top seeds Kevin Sanjaya and Marcus Gideon, who had already qualified for the semi-finals, beat Danish pair Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen 21-15, 18-21 and 21-9 in 59 minutes.
