Sports

Lee Chong Wei enters quarterfinals of Badminton Asia Championships

Wuhan

Lee Chong Wei from Malaysia rallied to beat Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia 16-21, 21-9, 21-11 at the Badminton Asia Championships here on Thursday.

Lee secured a spot in the last eight and set up a rematch of the Commonwealth Games final against Srikanth Kidambi in the quarterfinals.

Lee defeated India’s top player early this month in a three-game final at the Gold Coast in Australia to clinch his third Commonwealth Games gold medal.

No. 5 seed Lee went into the match against Ginting with a slow start, losing the first game 21-16 under aggressive attacking play from his opponent. The two-time winner adjusted in time and bounced back to win the second game 21-9.

The 35-year-old Lee extended his momentum in the decider, winning six points in a row at 15-11 to seal the victory 21-11.

Top seed Srikanth advanced into the quarterfinal with little effort as his rival in the second round Wong Wing Ki, retired from the match when he trailed 7-2 in the first game.

In other actions, newly-crowned All-England champion Shi Yuqi of China, seeded fourth, was defeated by former world no.2 Kento Momota of Japan, 21-15, 12-21, 21-12. Second seed Son Wan Ho of South Korea sunk Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan in straight games 21-12, 21-18 to move into the last eight.