Malaysia’s badminton ace Lee Chong Wei is through to the semi-finals of the Indonesia Open after dispatching China’s Wang Zhengming in a quarterfinal match yesterday.
Lee secured a spot in the semi-finals with 21-16, 9-2 after Wang was forced to retire early due to an injury.
In the semi-finals tomorrow, Lee will be facing the unseeded Indonesian shuttler Ihsan Maulana Mustafa who won the spot after defeating England’s number one Rajiv Ousev.
Maulana won against Ousev with 17-21, 21-12, 21-12 after a 56-minute battle.
More than 8,000 badminton fans were watching the competition at the Istora Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta, which is seen as a warm-up for the Rio Olympics in just a matter of weeks.
“I feel grateful to have won the match, until the first part of the second game my performance was still unstable, my attacks and defenses were all hesitant, but then I decided to just attack, I saw him (Ousev) was already tired,” Maulana said.
Lee said he has never played against Maulana but was aware that the young Indonesian likes to attack aggressively.
“I will just try my best, everyone wants to win of course,” Lee said, when asked about his strategy for the semi-finals.
Also through to the semi-finals was Denmark’s Jan O Jorgensen who secured the spot after defeating Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie.
Eighteen-year-old Christie previously caused an uproar for unexpectedly stopping his own idol China’s Lin Dan 21-12, 21-12 in the quarterfinals.
The fifth seed Jorgensen admitted he was struggling in the beginning of the game against the unseeded Christie.
“I just didn’t feel that well in the beginning of the game and I must find something to get my body moving better because it was a bit slow in the beginning,” he said.
World champion shuttler Carolina Marin of Spain is also advancing to the semi-finals of the Indonesian Open after defeating ace Indian player Saina Nehwal in a quarterfinal match yesterday.
Marin won 24-22, 21-11 against the eight seed Nehwal, who has won the Indonesia title three times after a 47-minute match in women’s singles.
“It was a tough match but I’m very happy with my performance,” Marin said after winning.