Birmingham: In a rematch of the 2021 All England quarter-finals saw the 2021 All England champion – Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia dethroned the 2019 All England champion – Kento Momota from Japan in a match that lasted 64 minutes to reach 2022 All England semi-finals on Friday.
Lee got off to a dream start when the Malaysian raced into a 17-1 lead in the first set and wrapped up the game 21-7.
Momota regrouped and went on to deliver a badminton masterclass of speed, power, and subtlety of stroke play to come back from 11-13 down, reeling off 10 consecutive points to force a decider by winning the second game 21-13.
The first half of the decider was very intense as the score was very close until 11-11. Lee suddenly went wild after the interval and successfully broke down the defense of Momota by scoring 10 consecutive points to beat Momota 21-11 in the third set.
Highlights of the 2022 All England semi-final match between Lee Zii Jia and Kento Momota:
“In the first game, I was kind of a shock to be able to score points from Momota that easily,” said Lee.
“I am happy about my win today,” added Lee.
“Thanks to the crowd who has been cheering for me. As the defending champion, I told myself I have to win that game,” continued Lee.
Meanwhile, Momota said the drift inside the arena was affecting his performance.
“Yes, the wind was the biggest factor for me to control the shuttlecock today,” said Momota.
“I was able to play defense against Lee Zii Jia’s attack, but, unfortunately, I was not able to win the match,” explained Momota.
Lee will take on Lakshya Sen of India next. Sen, on the other hand, didn’t break a sweat on Friday as he was given a walkover by Lu GuangZu of China in the quarter-finals.
Denmark’s No. 1 seed Viktor Axelsen will meet the No. 4 seed Chou Tian Chen of Taiwan in another men’s singles semi-finals.
In the women’s singles, No. 1 seed Tai Tzu Ying put on a stellar performance to beat No. 5 seed Nozomi Okuhara 21-10, 21-11. Tai will take on No. 4 seed An Seyoung of Korea on Saturday while China’s Chen Yufei will play Akane Yamaguchi of Japan for a spot in the women’s singles final.
