KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 3 – The luck of the draw could favour Malaysia’s number one Lee Zii Jia when he was drawn to face Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the men’s singles semifinal on Saturday after the completion of the round-robin group matches in Bali, Indonesia.
The Malaysian topped Group B when he demolished India’s K. Srikanth 21-19, 21-14 in the final group match at the Bali Convention Centre in Denpasar.
He had earlier defeated Kunlavut 21-15, 21-16 in the first match and Frenchman Toma Junior Popov 21-13, 21-19 in the second match.
Based on current form Zii Jia is good bet for a place in the final in the lucrative season ender which carries a whopping USD1.5 million in prize money.Interestingly, it must be noted that Zii Jia lost all his matches in the 2020 World Tour Finals in Bangkok earlier this year.
It has been a season of ups and down for the Kedah-born Zii Jia who picked up a back injury in the Hylo Open in Saarbrucken, Germany.
He had to retire in the final against Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew in the Super 500 event.
Meanwhile, Malaysian professionals Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi will get the chance for revenge when they were drawn to meet Japan’s Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi in the men’s doubles semifinal.
In their final Group B match on Friday, the Japanese pair defeated the Malaysians in a 54-minute thriller – prevailing in three games 21-19, 12-21, 21-10.
Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying face a stern test for a place in the mixed doubles final.
The Rio Olympics silver medal winners were drawn to play favourites Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand.
Earlier, the Malaysians completed their Group A fixtures with a 21-11, 21-12 defeat in 33 minutes at the hands of Japan’s Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino to finish second in the group.
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