ZII JIA SMASHED OUT FROM THE BWF WORLD TOUR FINALS

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 28 – It was another listless performance from Malaysian number one, Lee Zii Jia when he picked up a 21-15, 21-4 defeat to tournament favorite, Viktor Axelsen of Denmark in a Group A match of the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals on Thursday.

The back-to-back defeats in the Tour Finals at Impact Arena sent the 22-year-old Malaysian crash out of the 2020 season finale in his debut.

Zii Jia (pic left) lost to Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei 16-21, 21-12, 11-21 in his first match on Wednesday.

He next plays Indonesia’s Anthony Sinisuka Ginting which will be only for pride and dignity as both players are out of contention.

On current form, Zii Jia is staring at another defeat and could return from his sojourn in Bangkok with total disappointment.

While Zii Jia crashed out it was a tale of mixed fortunes in the men’s and women’s doubles as well as  in the mixed doubles.

Top doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik after winning their opening match against Koreans Choi Solgyu-Chae Seung-jae on Wednesday, the Malaysians made things difficult for themselves when they lost in straight games to Russians Vladimir Ivanov-Ivan Sogonov. The former All-England champions ranked 24 sealed a 21-19, 21-6 win in only 31 minutes.

They now face a mammoth task and will have to be Indonesia’s world champions Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan, ranked number two in the world.

The Indonesians also lost today – going down to Solgyu-Seung-jae 19-21, 16-21.

Meanwhile, Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi (pic left) threw themselves a lifeline with a 21-19, 21-18 win over England’s Marcus Ellis-Chris Langridge in a 53-minute match.

The pair has another English hurdle in Ben Lane-Sean Vendy to clear on Friday.

It was no different in the women’s doubles with Malaysia’s hope resting on Chow Mei Kuan-Lee Meng Yean who need to beat Indonesian favorites Greysia Polii-Apriyani Rahayu after a 21-15, 21-17 defeat to Koreans Lee So-hee-Shin Seung-chan in their second Group A match.

Greysia-Apriyani ousted another Malaysian pair Vivian Hoo-Yap Cheng Wen with a 21-17, 21-7 win in 35 minutes.

In the mixed doubles, Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie will also be involved in a do-or-die mission against Hafiz Faizal-Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja.

The Malaysians went down 17-21. 9-21 to the French pair Thom Gicquel-Delphine Delrue in 36 minutes in a Group B match.