All England Open badminton 2023: Lee Zii Jia into semis, Carolina Marín withdraws
Men's fourth seed from Malaysia overcomes Naraoka Kodai to reach the last four as he seeks to regain the title he won in 2021. Rio 2016 Olympic champion Marín withdraws from the women's draw with illness.
Badminton
Could this be Lee Zii Jia's return to top form?
The Malaysian badminton world number four is into the semi-finals of the prestigious 2023 All England Open after winning a see-saw encounter against Japan's Naraoka Kodai in Birmingham on Friday (17 March).
In a match that went the distance, all three games were won by comfortable margins – although that didn't tell the full story.
Lee took the opening game 21-9 against his seventh-seeded opponent, who he had previously only played once on the BWF World Tour.
However, it was Naraoka's turn to control the second game, pulling away from 8–6 up to take it 21-10 and level the match.
Lee pulled clear in the decider but Naraoka fought hard to close the deficit, closing to within four points before the Malaysian secured a 67-minute win 21-9, 10-21, 21-13.
It marks Lee's first win over Naraoka, having lost to the Japanese in January at the Malaysia Open. Lee now faces Shi Yuqi of the People's Republic of China in the last four.
In the women's draw, world number 1 and defending champion Yamaguchi Akane continued her push for another title, seeing off Wang Zhiyi 21-19, 21-12.
Second seed An Se-young of Republic of Korea is through without taking to the court after her opponent, Rio 2016 Olympic champion Carolina Marín, afforded her a walkover.
Marín announced her withdrawal from the tournament on Twitter, saying she has been battling a fever for a few days and her symptoms have worsened, leaving her unable to play.