KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 16 — National men’s singles ace, Lee Zii Jia survived a rubber set thriller against Ygor Coelho of Brazil to progress into the third round of the BWF World Championships 2021 in Huelva, Spain, yesterday.
Despite winning 21-14 in the first set, the 2021 All England champion squandered the chance to wrap up the game early as he allowed the world number 50 Ygor to take the second set 24-22 before the Malaysian regained his composure to emerge victorious in the decider set, 21-14.
Zii Jia, seeded sixth in the tournament, will take on the winner in the match between ninth seed Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan and Denmark’s Hana-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus next.
However, it was a different story for independent shuttler, Liew Daren as he was eliminated by H S Prannoy of India, 21-7, 21-17.
Meanwhile, Rio 2016 men’s doubles silver medallists Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong kicked off their first reunion match in style as they overcame Hiroki Okamura-Masayuki Onadera of Japan, 21-15, 22-24, 21-16.
The 10th seeded pair will face Bjame Veiss-Jan Colin Volker next as the German pair were handed a “free win” after their opponents, Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Rian Ardianto of Indonesia, withdrew from the competition.
Meanwhile, women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-M Thinaah had to bid farewell early to the tournament after losing 21-10, 12-21, 11-21 to Ng Tsz Yau-Yuen Sin Ying of Hong Kong.
— Bernama
