SENAYAN: The days of Hong Kong's Angus Ng being Lee Zii Jia's bogeyman have come to an end now that coach Wong Tat Meng is at the Malaysian's champion side.
World No. 10 Zii Jia secured his first back-to-back victories over Ka Long today by defeating him 22-20, 21-15 to reach Indonesia Masters quarter-finals.
Ka Long had been dominant in their matchups since 2019, winning four out of their last six encounters prior to their latest clash at Istora Senayan tomorrow.
Zii Jia had previously endured four successive defeats before putting an end to the dreadful streak by triumphing in the first round of the Hangzhou Asian Games.
Against Hong Kong's opponents, Zii Jia can certainly rely on Tat Meng's invaluable insights, given that the former Malaysian international coached the men's singles department for a year before joining Team LZJ.
Interestingly, Tat Meng's departure from Hong Kong was promptly filled by former national coaching director Wong Choong Hann, who left Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) abruptly in June last year.
For the record, Choong Hann himself had trained under Tat Meng during the latter's initial stint with BAM from 2003-2011.
At present, Tat Meng holds the advantage over Choong Hann, having guided Zii Jia to two victories over Ka Long.
Under Choong Hann's tutelage, Ka Long had triumphed over Zii Jia during the Korea Open in July last year.
It's worth pointing out that Zii Jia had outplayed another Hong Kong star, Lee Cheuk Yiu, en route to finishing as the runner-up at the Denmark Open in October last year.
"We're all familiar foes, not just us, but the two coaches as well. Tatt Meng, who used to coach Ka Long, is now my coach, while Choong Hann, whom I trained under before, is coaching Ka Long now," said Zii Jia.
"But I believe what made the difference today was my attacking play, as well as front-court control.
"Today was all about dominating the front court, and I had the advantage in both the front court and net play."
Now that he has reached his second quarter-final in as many weeks, Zii Jia would like nothing more than to make the last four. However, he's under no illusion that it will be easy, as he could be facing Canada's Brian Yang, who defeated China's Li Shi Feng in the opening round.
Brian faces India's Priyanshu Rajawat in the other last 16 clash of the day.
"I haven't played Priyanshu, but with Brian, I have beaten him a couple of times. I need to prepare myself well against him, as he did very well to beat the Asian Games champion," said Zii Jia.