Lee Zii Jia - AFP
PETALING JAYA: Men's singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia's hopes of defending his title in the Arctic Open ended after he went down to Japan's Koki Watanabe in the quarter-finals.
World No. 4 Zii Jia fought hard but could not stop world No. 14 Watanabe and lost 15-21, 21-13, 12-21 in 66 minutes at the Energia Arena in Vantaa, Finland on Friday (Oct 11).
It was the 26-year-old's third consecutive defeat to the Japanese after also coming second best to him in the Swiss Open last year and China Open last month.
Meanwhile, world No. 13 men's doubles pair Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun also bowed out after losing narrowly 17-21, 21-16, 17-21 to China's world No. 1 Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang.
Another Malaysian pair, Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani will face Weikeng-Wang Chang in the last four. Sze Fei-Izzuddin earlier defeated Indonesia's Fajar Alfian-Rian Ardianto to reach the semi-finals.
In the women's doubles, third seeds Tan-M. Thinaah defeated Chang Ching-hui-Yang Ching-tun of Taiwan 21-8, 21-18 in the quarter-finals on Friday. They will take on second seeds Rin Iwanaga-Kie Nakanishi of Japan for a place in the final.
The Malaysians have a good record against the Japanese, having beaten them three times out of their four meetings. Their only defeat was at their recent meeting at the 2023 Singapore Open, where the Malaysians retired due to Pearly's injury.
