MALAYSIA’S Lee Zii Jia came up short in his bid to topple Chen Long, the China’s badminton dragon again.
But Olympic champion Chen Long was forced to dig into his experience to avoid a first round exit in the Denmark Open in Odense yesterday.
Zii Jia, who beat Chen Long in the Indonesia Open in July, dragged the latter to three games before losing 21-18, 15-21, 21-16 in a 72-minute battle.
Chen Long, whose form has dipped since winning the men’s singles gold in the 2016 Rio Olympics, subdued Zii Jia in three games in the China Open last month, and yesterday, the Malaysian was looking for revenge in Odense.
The 30-year-old Chen Long took a 16-9 lead in the first game but Zii Jia, nine years his junior, was able to reduce the deficit to one point.
However, Zii Jia failed to keep up the momentum, allowing Chen Long to close the first game 21-18.
Zii Jia raced to a 7-2 lead in the second and never looked back but Chen Long’s experience proved to be decisive in the rubber.
Chen Long will play India’s Sameer Verma, who beat Japan’s Kanta Tsuneyama 21-11, 21-11, in the second round.
BA of Malaysia coaching director Wong Choong Hann said Zii Jia needs to improve his techniques to overcome Chen Long.
“Zii Jia must continue to improve and needs to sharpen his techniques if he wants to gain an edge over Chen Long,” said Choon Hann.
“And yes… experience counts in these matches.”
Malaysia, however, did well to have two pairs in the second round of the mixed doubles.
Independent duo Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying, the fourth seeds, overcame Japan’s Kohei Gondo-Ayane Kurihara 21-17, 21-14 in 37 minutes. They will play India’s Pranav Chopra-Sikki Reddy in the second round today.
Goh Son Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie advanced to the second round after beating Ireland’s Sam Magee-Chloe Magee 19-21, 21-13, 21-15 on Tuesday and will play eighth seeds Tan Chung Man-Tse Ying Suet of Hong Kong next.
Women’s doubles Chow Mei Kuan-Lee Meng Yean, who defeated Delphine Delrue-Lea Palermo of France 20-22, 21-8, 21-13 on Tuesday, take on Thailand’s Puttita Supajirakul-Sapsiree Taetrattanachai in the second round.
Women’s doubles Vivian Hooi-Yap Cheng Wen, however, crashed out in the first round after losing 21-10, 21-18 to Indonesians Greysia Polii-Apriyani Rahayu.
Women’s singles Soniia Cheah was shown a first round exit after a 22-20, 21-16 defeat to South Korea’s Kim Ga Eun.
Men’s doubles Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong, the 2016 champions, were involved in a late first round match against world champions Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia last night.