Possible opponent: Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto will most likely face off with Lee Zii Jia for a place in the quarter-finals of the All-England.
PETALING JAYA: Lee Zii Jia has never failed to reach at least the semi-finals of the All-England.
The independent men’s singles shuttler finished in the last four in 2020 and 2022, and won the title in 2021.
Can Zii Jia maintain his good record in the tournament this time?
The world No. 4 is currently on a poor run of form and is badly in need of a boost.
Zii Jia has been eliminated in the early rounds of all his individual tournaments since reaching the final of the Denmark Open last October.
Yesterday, the 24-year-old showed glimpses of his best form when he swept aside Thailand’s world No. 33 Sitthikom Thammasin 21-12, 21-15 at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham.
The win extended Zii Jia’s unbeaten record over the Thai to five matches.
Zii Jia will likely face Japan’s world No. 15 Kenta Nishimoto next for a place in the last eight.
Meanwhile, last year’s runners-up Lakshya Sen of India, who is also trying to rediscover his best form after going through a rough patch, stunned Taiwan’s world No. 5 Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19.
Lakshya, who has seen his ranking drop from sixth to 19th after failing to go past the quarter-finals of any of his tournaments since reaching last year’s All-England final, will take on Denmark’s world No. 18 Anders Antonsen in the second round today.
In one of the biggest upsets of the day in the women’s singles, China’s world No. 17 Zhang Yiman stunned India’s 2019 world champion P. V. Sindhu 21-17, 21-11.
It was a huge disappointment for Sindhu, who is still trying to find her feet again after suffering a stress fracture on her left foot en route to capturing her first gold medal in the individual event of the Commonwealth Games at the same arena last August.
FIRST ROUND RESULTS
Malaysians unless stated
MEN’S SINGLES: Ng Tze Yong bt Shesar Hiren (Ina) 21-9, 21-12, Viktor Axelsen (Den) bt Lee Cheuk Yiu (Hkg) 19-21, 21-15, 21-11; Anthony Ginting (Ina) bt Kantaphon Wangcharoen (Tha) 21-17, 21-19; Lakshya Sen (Ind) bt Chou Tienchen (Tpe) 21-18, 21-19; Anders Antonsen (Den) bt Rasmus Gemke (Den) 21-16, 21-18; Lee Zii Jia bt Sitthikom Thammasin (Tha) 21-12, 21-15.
MEN’S DOUBLES: Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi bt Lee Yang-Wang Chi-lin (Tpe) 12-21, 21-16, 21-18; Lee Jhe-huei-Yang Po-hsuan (Tpe) bt Christo Popov-Toma Junior Popov 20-22, 21-17, 21-13; Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi (Jpn) bt Keiichiro Matsui-Yoshinori Takeuchi (Jpn) 21-12, 21-14; Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen (Den) bt Mark Lamsfuss-Marvin Seidel (Ger) 18-21, 21-14, 21-17; He Jiting-Zhou Haodong (Chn) bt Lu Ching-yao-Yang Po-han (Tpe) 21-10, 21-12; Alexander Dunn-Adam Hall (Sco) bt Choi Sol-gyu-Kim Won-ho (Kor) 21-15, 21-14; Fajar Alfian-Rian Ardianto (Ina) bt Kang Min-hyuk-Seo Seung-jae (Kor) 20-22, 21-12, 21-19.
WOMEN’S SINGLES: Yvonne Li (Ger) bt Goh Jin Wei 12-21, 22-20, 13-21, (ret); Wang Zhiyi (Chn) bt Saena Kawakami (Jpn) 23-21, 21-11; Han Yue (Chn) bt Yeo Jia Min (Sin) 21-10, 21-7; Pornpawee Chochuwong (Tha) bt Nozomi Okuhara (Jpn) 21-11, 21-15; Lalinrat Chaiwan (Tha) bt Ratchanok Intanon (Tha) 21-16, 21-17; Gregoria Mariska (Ina) bt Line Kjaersfeldt (Den) 15-21, 21-12, 22-20; Zhang Yiman (Chn) bt P. V. Sindhu (Ind) 21-17, 21-11.
WOMEN’S DOUBLES: Chen Qingchen-Jia Yifan (Chn) bt Rin Iwanaga-Kie Nakanishi (Jpn) 21-11, 21-13; Maiken Fruergaard-Sara Thygesen (Den) bt Debora Jille-Cheryl Seinen (Ned) 21-18, 21-23, 21-16; Lee Chia-hsin-Teng Chun-hsun (Tpe) bt Gabriela Stoeva-Stefani Stoeva (Bul) 21-19, 21-16; Zhang Shuxian-Zheng Yu Chn) bt Rui Hirokami-Yuna Kato (Jpn) 21-11, 21-12; Margot Lambert-Anne Tran (Fra) bt Vivian Hoo-Lim Chiew Sien 21-19, 18-21, 21-15; Mayu Matsumoto-Wakana Nagahara (Jpn) bt Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah 21-13, 15-21, 21-15; Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand (Ind) bt Jongkolphan Kititharakul-Rawanda Prajongjai (Tha) 21-18, 21-14; Yeung Nga Ting-Yeung Pui Lam (Hkg) bt Jeong Na-eun-Kim Hye-jeong (Kor) 12-21, 21-19, 21-14.
MIXED DOUBLES: Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing bt Rinov Rivaldy-Pitha Haningtyas (Ina) 21-19, 21-18; Zheng Siwei-Huang Yaqiong (Chn) bt Mathias Thyrri-Amelie Magelund (Den) 21-9, 21-15; Thom Gicquel-Delphine Delrue (Fra) bt Ko Sung-hyun-Eom Hye-won (Kor) 21-19, 21-15; Rehan Naufal-Lisa Ayu (Ina) bt Jones Jansen-Linda Efler (Ger) 21-19, 21-16; Kyohei Yamashita-Naru Shinoya (Jpn) bt Marcus Ellis-Lauren Smith (Eng) 21-16, 21-17.
