Fightback: Defending champions Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik made it to the second round of the world meet in Copenhagen. - Badminton Photo
PETALING JAYA: Shuttler Lee Zii Jia booked his berth in the third round but Ng Tze Yong crashed out in the World Championships in Copenhagen.
The independent player Zii Jia, who trains under coach Wong Tat Meng, secured a 21-11, 21-16 win over Brian Yang of Canada in 33 minutes in Copenhagen on Wednesday (Aug 23).
Zii Jia said he was happy to be calmer on court.
"I have been enjoying the whole environment here, the weather is good and I’m calmer on the court," Zii Jia told Badminton World Federation.
"Things are moving well so far for me and I want to go for it."
Zii Jia will play Anders Antonsen of Denmark.
Antonsen prevented an all-Malaysian affair in the third round when he stayed solid in front of his home fans to beat Tze Yong 24-22, 21-16 in a 57-minute second round clash.
Said the Dane: "I was super calm, I got a good start, so I will try to keep working on that. I also showed that I’m able to win these close situations, so lot of positives to take from this match."
"I’ve never played him before, so I’m super happy to get the win in straight games."
Meanwhile, defending men's doubles champions Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik survived a scare after coming from behind to beat Denmark’s Jeppe Bay-Lars Molhede 18-21, 21-14, 21-16 in 54 minutes.
They will meet Olympic champions Lee Yang-Wang Chi-lin of Taiwan later on Thursday.
"It was good exposure for us to know what’s going on in the stadium, and what we need to do better. It wasn’t easy. We’ll have to do better tomorrow," said Wooi Yik
“We haven’t played them before, and they gave us a shock. We did come back in the third game, but there were nerves. We got our strategy working in the third game.”
The tournament also witnessed a shock when Lee Jhe-huei-Yang Po-hsuan of Taiwan upset men’s doubles top seed Fajar Alfian-Rian Ardianto of Indonesia 21-18, 21-19 in the second round.
Meanwhile, independent doubles pair Vivian Hoo-Lim Chiew Sien bowed out in the second round after a 21-11, 21-14 defeat to Yuki Fukushima-Sayaka Hirota of Japan.
