Zii Jia powers his way into Manila final

PETALING JAYA: National badminton ace Lee Zii Jia smashed his way into the Badminton Asia Championships (BAC) singles final in Manila, defeating rising Chinese star Weng Hong Yang in straight games 21-11, 21-19.

The 24-year-old Zii Jia, who demolished Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan 21-13, 21-11 in just 36 minutes in the semi-final, raced his way to 14-5 in less than 10 minutes.

The world number 7 then dropped a few points before taking a commanding lead after 17 minutes at 18-9, and going on to wrap up the first game against the world number 81 at 21-11 in less than 20 minutes.

It was a slow start in the second game for Zii Jia when he trailed 4-2 after a few minutes, but he took control of the game soon after and led 11-10 during the changeover.

But it was a ding-dong battle after this. Zii Jia finally wrapped up the match in 40 minutes by winning the second game 21-19 to set up a final with Indonesian Jonathan Christie.

Meanwhile, the Malaysian pair of Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik booked a spot in the men’s doubles final after defeating compatriots Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani in straight matches 21-13-21-15, taking just 33 minutes.

Aaron-Wooi Yik, the world number nine pair and Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist, were too good for their opponents winning easily in the first set after leading all the way.

Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin, the world number 16 and winners of the German Open recently, went all out in the second match trying to force a rubber but succumbed to the experienced countrymen after the changeover.

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