All England Open 2024: Loh Kean Yew and Lee Zii Jia to face off in second round after both progress
The 2021 world champion Loh Kean Yew and Malaysian star Lee Zii Jia are set to face off for the eighth time in their careers in the last 16 of the 2024 All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham, live on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com and the offical Olympics app (territorial restrictions may apply).
Both men won their opening round tests on Wednesday (13 March), with Loh defeating Ng Ka Long Angus of Hong Kong, China, and Lee eliminating sixth seed Naraoka Kodai of Japan.
Ng had never beaten Loh in three prior meetings between the pair, and that continued in Birmingham on Wednesday as Loh needed just 35 minutes to seal his progress.
Singapore's Loh pulled away from 4-4 in the opening game, part of a spell of seven straight points that took him from a 2-4 deficit to a 9-4 lead, to take it 21-12. He also earned a seven-point advantage at one point in the second game, and although Ng tried to close the gap, Loh saw out a 21-12 21-17 victory.
Lee, meanwhile, had only won once previously in four meetings against Naraoka – it came in Birmingham in last year's quarter-finals. But he repeated the feat on Wednesday in a closely fought affair.
The Malaysian seemed in control in the opening game and held a five-point lead but saw Naraoka level the score at 11-11. Where in the past that might have caused him to wilt, Lee powered on to take the opener 21-12, allowing Naraoka only one of the last 11 points.
Lee looked set to close out an easy win when he earned a match point at 20-12 up in the second. But Naraoka found a second wind as he battled to stay in the tournament, rolling off seven consecutive points.
Eventually, though, Lee scored the point he needed to close out the 21-12 21-19 win in 49 minutes.
