Zii Jia's world title quest ends

KUALA LUMPUR: National professional men's singles ace Lee Zii Jia was knocked out in the third round of the 2023 World Badminton Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark, by home shuttler Anders Antonsen on Thursday, ending his bid for his maiden world title.

The unseeded Zii Jia lost in straight sets, 18-21, 17-21, to the 12th seed Dane in 53 minutes, thus failing to reach the quarter-finals stage of the tournament held in Royal Arena.

Antonsen's victory sets the stage for him to face Japan's Kenta Nishimoto, who downed compatriot Kanta Tsuneyama, 21-19, 21-17, in another third-round match.

Malaysia's hope now rests on three pairs -- reigning men's doubles champion Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik, national top women's doubles duo Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah and mixed doubles pair Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei -- who successfully made the cut to the quarter-finals, to be held later today.

In the last eight, Aaron-Wooi Yik will meet Liu Yu Chen-Ou Xuan Yi of China, while Pearly-Thinaah are set to battle another Chinese duo, Zheng Su Xian-Zheng Yu.

On the other hand, Tang Jie-Ee Wei will be up against Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino from Japan.

-- BERNAMA