Malaysian badminton star Lee Zi Jia marched into his first final of the year with a stellar 2-1 (18-21, 21-12, 21-13) win over Chou Tien-Chen at the 2024 BWF Toyota Thailand Open in Bangkok on Saturday (18 May).
The first game was a proper arm wrestle with the two shuttlers trading points before Chou edged ahead for a 1-0 advantage.
Lee bounced back with a vengeance in the second game with the 2022 Thailand Open champion storming to an 8-2 lead.
The number eight seed from Chinese Taipei did not have any answers to Lee’s aggressive approach in the second game with the Malaysian taking a near unassailable eight-point lead (16-8). Lee kept his foot on the accelerator to take the second to even matters.
The deciding third game was a tighter affair but Lee got his nose in front at the interval with an 11-8 advantage before moving six points ahead. By this point, Lee had taken the wind out of Chou’s sails to secure the victory aftr 66 minutes for his second appearance in the final at the tournament.
Lee will face Hong Kong China’s Ng Ka Long Angus, who beat local hero and defending champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the other men’s singles semi-final. Ng clawed his way back after trailing 15-19 in the final game before a run of six points sealed the victory 2-1 (21-14, 18-21, 21-19).
In the women’s single’s semi-finals, home favourite Supanida Katethong reached her first Thailand Open final following her gutsy 21-17, 12-21, 22-20 win over the second-seeded Wang Zhiyi of the People’s Republic of China.
Katethong has another tough assignment in the final on Sunday where she will go up against top seed Han Yue. Han was in rampant form in her semi-final beating Pornpawee Chochuwong 21-13, 21-18 to scupper the hosts’ hopes of an all-Thai final.
The final rounds from Bangkok are live on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com and the official Olympics app (territorial restrictions may apply).
2024-05-18 12:39:00
#Badminton #BWF #Thailand #Open #Lee #Zii #Jia #final
