NG Ka Long Angus: With some of their top players biting the dust, Badminton superpower China had mixed results as all matchups for the semifinals of the 2024 badminton Malaysia Masters were determined here on Friday. In the men's singles, China's star shuttler Lu Guangzu overpowered Jason Gunawan of Hong Kong, China 21-17, 15-21, 21-14 in a tough match lasting one hour and 24 minutes.
Title favourite Lu will be pitted against top seed Viktor Axelsen of Denmark in the semifinals on Saturday. The other semifinal will be played between NG Ka Long Angus from Hong Kong, China and Malaysia's Lee Zii Jia.
An all-Chinese semifinal has been set in the women's singles after Wang Zhiyi won over teammate Gao Fangjie and Zhang Yiman outmatched India's Ashmita Chaliha, reports Xinhua. The other women's singles semifinal is going to be contested between India's P.V. Sindhu and Thailand's Busanan Ongbamrungphan.
Also on Friday, third-seeded men's doubles pair He Jiting and Ren Xiangyu of China overpowered their Malaysian opponents to set up a semifinal showdown with Jin Yong and Na Sung-seung of South Korea.
The other men's doubles semifinal will pit Malaysian pair Junaidi Arif/Roy King Yap and second-seeded Danes Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen. In the women's doubles, Japanese pair Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi will compete with Bulgaria's Gabriela Stoeva and Stefani Stoeva in the semifinals, while South Korean duo Lee Yu-lim and Shin Seung-chan are going to fight Malaysia's Tan Pearly and Thinaah Muralitharan.
Saturday's mixed doubles semifinals will see top seeds Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei from Malaysia compete with their compatriots Goh Soon Huat and Lai Shevon Jemie, while Indonesia's Rinov Rivaldy and Pitha Haningtyas are set to play Denmark's Mathias Christiansen and Alexandra Boje.
The Malaysia Masters runs from May 21 to 26.