Zii Jia Advances Into Quarter-Finals Of Taiwan Open

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 5 (Bernama) -- National men’s singles shuttler, Lee Zii Jia continued his splendid performance by advancing into the last eight in the Taiwan Open Badminton Tournament in Taipei, Taiwan, Thursday. The unseeded Zii Jia defeated Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo of Indonesia; winning in 21-17 and 21-8 in the second round match held at Taipei Arena, according to the Badminton World Federation (BWF) website;www.bwfworldtour.befbadminton.com. Ex-national player, eighth seeded Chong Wei Feng, however, was pushed to the limit before edging Lin Yu Hsien of Taiwan;10-21, 26-24 and 23-21 in another second round match. Meanwhile, sixth seeded Aaron Chia Teng Fong-Soh Wooi Yik emerged as the only Malaysian pair left standing in the men’s doubles as three others were beaten by their respective opponents in the second round. Chia-Soh defeated Chang Ko Chi-Lu Chia Pin of Taiwan; 21-14 and 21-16. Fourth seeded, Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi, crashed out from the US$500,000 (RM2.071 million) tournament after suffering an unexpected 19-21 and 20-22 defeat to unheralded Taiwanese pair of Lee Sheng Mu-Yang Po Hsuan. Eighth seeded, Mohamad Arif Abdul Latif-Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub also faced a similar fate after they were beaten by Keiichiro Matsui-Yoshinori Takeuchi of Japan; losing 16-21, 21-16 and 19-21 whereas Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Mohd Rumsani put up a spirited fight against the top seeds, Chen Hung Ling-Wang Chi Lin of Taiwan before losing 21-18, 18-21 and 12-21. In the women’s singles, seventh seeded Soniia Cheah Su Ya, who is the only Malaysian representatives in the event, also moved into the last eight by dislodging Julie Dawall Jakobsen of Denmark; 21-10 and 21-10 in the second round match. National mixed doubles pair, third seeded Chen Tang Jie-Peck Yen Wei also progressed into the next round after subduing Chung Yonny-Wu Yi Ting of Hong Kong; 22-20 and 21-17. Malaysia’s interest in the women’s doubles fizzled out yesterday after the only pair, Lim Chiew Sien-Tan Sueh Jeou, lost in the first round match in the BWF World Tour Super 300 tournament. -- BERNAMA