Wuhan: The Malaysian badminton superstar and World No. 1 men’s singles player Lee Chong Wei sealed his place in the last eight of the Badminton Asia Championships with a comfortable win over Japanese shuttler Kenta Nishimoto at the Wuhan Sports Center Gymnasium in China on Thursday. The 23-year-old Japanese was simply unable to live with the class and guile of the Malaysian maestro by bowing out with 20-22, 12-21 in 44 minutes.
Lee will play Taiwan’s Hsu Jen Hao next.
Meanwhile, No. 4 seed Lin Dan of China showing some strong form by beating Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan 21-17, 21-15. Lin is slated to meet No. 7 seed Chou Tien Chen on Friday.
Reigning Olympic champion Chen Long also produced another dazzling performance by easing past Takuma Ueda in the second round. Chen will fight No. 8 seed Angus Ng Ka Long for a spot in the semi-final.
As predicted by BadmintonPlanet.com yesterday, the condition of men’s doubles No. 2 seeds Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong were “concerning” given that they needed 3-set to battle past their first round opponents on Wednesday. The struggling men’s doubles second seeds fell 19-21, 16-21 on Thursday to unseeded Huang Kaixiang/Wang Yilyu to join a list of high-profile upset at the tournament.
Malaysia’s top women’s doubles pair Vivian Hoo Kah Mun/Woon Khe Wei managed to score a hard-fought victory against Huang Yaqiong/Tang Jinhua of China by winning 16-21, 21-14, 21-16 in 74 minutes. Hoo/Woon will play No. 1 seeds Misaki Matsutomo/Ayaka Takahashi of Japan in the quarter-finals.
Mixed doubles No. 6 seeds Tan Kian Meng/Lai Pei Jing of Malaysia also checked into the last eight after seeing off unheralded Japanese pair Kenta Kazuno/Ayane Kurihara 21-11, 21-8 to battle the 2017 All England champions and No. 3 seeds Lu Kai/Huang Yaqiong next.
