KUALA LUMPUR: National No 1 men’s singles shuttler, Lee Zii Jia put up a commendable performance to book his place in the All-England Open semi-finals at Arena Birmingham on Friday.
The unseeded Zii Jia, who is making his debut in the prestigious RM4.7 million tournament, delivered a gutsy performance against reigning Olympic champion Chen Long of China to chalk up a convincing 21-12 and 21-18 victory in the quarter-finals match.
It is Zii Jia’s second victory over the world No 5 – they have had four encounters since 2018. The first time Zii Jia won against Chen Long was during the 2019 Indonesian Open.
Prior to this, the 2019 SEA Games gold medallist had knocked out world No 6 Jonatan Christie of Indonesia in the opening round on Wednesday.
Zii Jia will meet either second seed Viktor Axelsen of Denmark or seventh seed Shi Yuqi of China for a place in the final.