Bows out: Lee Zii Jia loses to Japan's Kodai Naraoka in the Indian Open quarter-finals. - S.S. KANESAN / The Star
PETALING JAYA: It is the end of the road for men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia at the Indian Open after he lost to Japan’s Kodai Naraoka 13-21, 21-9, 21-16 in the quarter-finals on Friday (Jan 19) at the K.D. Jadhav Indoor Hall in New Delhi.
Zii Jia was in commanding form in the first game as he led all the way to win but world No. 6 Naraoka staged a remarkable comeback by launching stinging attacks and superb netplay to win the second game and closed out the match in the decider.
Credit to Zii Jia for putting up a decent fight but he has some catching up to do in a bid to narrow the gap in standard with second seed Naraoka.
The defeat marks Zii Jia’s third loss to the Japanese in four previous meetings, with the most recent coming at the 2023 China Open where Naraoka took victory.
Naraoka will either face Hong Kong’s Lee Cheuk Yiu or Indonesia’s Anthony Ginting in the semi-finals.
Earlier, professional mixed doubles pair Goh Soon Huat-Lai Shevon Jemie were also met with the same fate in the quarter-finals after losing 13-21, 13-21 to China’s Jiang Zhenbang-Wei Yaxin.
Thailand's Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai pulled off one of the biggest upsets when they upstaged second seeds and reigning Malaysian Open champions Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino of Japan 21-17, 15-21, 27-25 in a thrilling quarter-final match.
One of the surprise semi-finalists was Singapore's Yeo Jia Min as she made it to the women's singles semis after winning the opening game against An Se-young 21-19 before the Korean conceded a walkover after trailing 0-3 in the second.
It looks as though Se-young's knee is still a bother.
For Jia Min, it was her second scalp in the tournament, having beaten Gregoria Mariska of Indonesia in the second round.
Jia Min, who had trained with the Korean team for two weeks in November, will play Taiwan's Tai Tzu-ying next.
