Jonatan Christie bounced back from a game down to outclass Shi Yu Qi, breaking the hearts of the Chinese supporters at the Ningbo Olympic Sports Centre with a 18-21, 21-19, 21-12 win to storm into his second finals of the Badminton Asia Championships.
The world No.3 Indonesian, yet to drop a game in the tournament prior to today’s semifinals, drew level in the second game and produced a solid performance in the decider to win the match in 71 minutes.
Christie will now meet winner of the Kodai Naraoka-Li Shi Feng encounter which takes place later this afternoon.
Meanwhile, Malaysia are assured of the winner’s podium after the young pair of Goh Sze Fei/Nur Izzuddin, ranked 19th in the world, outplayed their higher-ranked seniors Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik with a straight-game 21-14, 21-18 victory. It was only their second win over their seniors in five years, the first being in the quarterfinals of the German Open in 2019.
Having won the bronze medal in the 2022 edition, Goh/Nur Izzuddin will be attempting to win their first-ever Asian title, with either Chinese pair of Liang Wei Keng/Wang Chang or Chinese Taipei’s Lee Jhe Huei/Yang Po Hsuan as their rivals in tomorrow’s final.
En route to the finals, the Malaysian pair had dumped two former world champions – Kang Ming Hyuk/Seo Seung Jae and Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik — and Olympic champion Lee Yang/Wang Chi-Lin of Chinese Taipei.
In an all-Chinese women’s singles semifinals, top seed Chen Yu Fei lived up to her top billings, advancing into tomorrow’s finals after defeating Han Yue 21-15, 21-16.
Chen faces 2022 winner Wang Zhi Yi, who had earlier defeated He Bing Jiao 21-19, 21-17 in tomorrow’s final.
In the first women’s doubles semifinals, seventh seed Zhang Shu Xian/Zhen Yu shocked their higher-ranked teammate to march into the finals, defeating world No.1 and two-time Asian champion Chen Qing Chen/Jia Yi Fan in straight games of 21-14, 21-16.
For results, please follow the following link: https://bwf.tournamentsoftware.com/tournament/6b63ef37-703b-4bd6-ab50-d58ed84396be/matches/20240413
