PETALING JAYA: Professional shuttler Lee Zii Jia proved once again that he remains a bogeyman for Christo Popov after knocking out the Frenchman to book his place in the Arctic Open semi-finals.
Popov came into the tournament as the world No. 2 and second seed, while Zii Jia was simply looking to see how far he could go after struggling for form in recent months.
But despite going into the match as the underdog, Zii Jia was clearly the better player as he won 21-11, 21-16 in just 38 minutes at the Energia Arena in Vantaa yesterday.
The victory also maintained Zii Jia’s perfect record against Popov, having beaten him in their previous two meetings, including at the 2024 Arctic Open.
Zii Jia will next face either China’s Hu Zhe’an or his close friend Anders Antonsen of Denmark for a place in the final.
Meanwhile, Aaron Tai is proving to be a valuable asset for the national badminton squad, showing he can adapt to different partners and still produce good results.
Aaron and Yap Roy King defeated world No. 21 and seventh seeds Lee Fang-jen-Lee Fang-chih of Taiwan 21-19, 21-11 to set up a meeting against Thailand’s Peeratchai Sukphun-Pakkapon Teeraratsakul in the quarter-finals.
For Aaron, it was another encouraging result in the doubles reshuffle under head coach Herry Iman Pierngadi.
He had earlier partnered Aaron Chia and reached the Taiwan Open final, where they finished runners-up.
Aaron then teamed up with Soh Wooi Yik at the China Masters last month and they beat world No. 10 Chen Boyang-Liu Yi of China in the second round before pushing former world No. 4 He Jiting-Ren Xiangyu to three games in the next round.
Aaron had previously partnered Kang Khai Xing, and the pair were crowned world junior champions in 2024.
