JONATAN CHRISTIE, ANTHONY GINTING INTO LAST 16 BUT LOH KEAN YEW MISSES OUT.
Lee Zii Jia‘s campaign to regain his Asian badminton title got off to the perfect start on Wednesday (10 April) with a win at the 2024 Badminton Asia Championships in Ningbo, People’s Republic of China.
The Malaysian, the 2022 continental champion, saw off India’s Priyanshu Rajawat 21-9, 21-13 in a straight-games win in 39 minutes.
Lee took a few points to find his feet in the opening game, but won 18 of the last 22 points contested, never letting Priyanshu have a look in. While the second game was a little closer, Lee’s dominance was never threatened.
He next faces Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien-chen, who beat the hosts’ Weng Hongyang after the latter withdrew at the end of the first game with an injury.
Indonesia’s second and third seeds Anthony Sinisuka Ginting and Jonatan Christie each also booked their second-round spots with straight-games victories.
The 80-minute marathon match began with Loh opening up what seemed like a clear advantage of seven points, before Nishimoto closed the gap. Although Singapore’s Loh held on to take the first game 21-18, it gave his Japanese opponent much-needed momentum.
Nishimoto matched Loh nearly point-for-point in the early stages of the second, before pulling slightly ahead. The two were never separated by more than four points, but Nishimoto managed to level the match with a 21-18 game of his own.
However, the tides turned in the deciding game, as Nishimoto took an early lead and never looked back.
However, the tides turned in the deciding game, as Nishimoto took an early lead and never looked back.
The Japanese closed out the win 18-21, 21-18, 21-17, and booked a second-round clash against top seed Shi Yuqi for his troubles.
In the women’s draw, top seed An Seyoung was pushed hard by former world number one Okuhara Nozomi of Japan. An took the opening game but dropped the second to Okuhara, who is making her way back from a few injury-hit seasons.
