KUALA LUMPUR: Lee Zii Jia's title defence at the All England came to a premature end yesterday as the Malaysian crashed out in the semi-final in Birmingham.
Following his titanic clash against two-time world champion Kento Momota of Japan on Friday, Zii Jia, 24, put up another strong performance in the last four stage but it was not enough to overcome India's Lakshya Sen, whose tactical prowess at the net saw him wrap up proceedings at the Arena Birmingham 21-13, 12-21, 21-19.
The 21-year-old Indian, who is a former Asian junior champion, will face the winner of the match between world No 1 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark and Taiwan's Chou Tien Chen next for the All England crown.
"The last few points of the match were down to net play, and Lakshya did very well at the net," said Zii Jia in a post-match interview with the Badminton World Federation.
"Lakshya has been playing really well and I prepared myself to play him as well. There is no excuse but as you can see he is also very fit.
"I will head back to Malaysia, because I won't be playing in the Swiss Open. My next tournament is the Korea Open (April 5-10), and after that I will prepare for the Thomas Cup," added the Kedah-born Zii Jia who turned professional in January.
Lakshya, who has been going great guns since the end of last year, said: "Toward the end, I was just focused on scoring one point at a time and making sure I played well at the net.
"The strategy worked well for me in the first game, but I made some errors in the second which gave Zii Jia the lead, and it was difficult to come back from that.
"However in the third, I played safe at the net and Zii Jia is one of the best attacking players in the world. I had to make sure I didn't give him any easy opening.
"I have one more match to go, and I will go all out."