LEE Zii Jia's campaign at the China Open came to premature end but the 21-year-old men's singles can still hold his head up high.
Yesterday, the Malaysian world No 13 fought hard against reigning Olympic champion, Chen Long, before succumbing to a 21-16, 12-21, 23-21 defeat in the opening round at the Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium in Changzhou.
It was Zii Jia's first defeat to the former world No 1, after having upset the China ace at the Indonesia Open in July.
Despite crashing out early, Zii Jia is certain that he has found some self believe in his quest to break into the world top 10 by the end of the year.
"As I have said in previous interviews, it's never easy going up against a top player (top 10) for the second time after beating them.
"They would have prepared well because they wouldn't want to lose again.
"However, I must admit, I thought I had the match when I levelled the score at 20-20 in the third game.
"Unfortunately, the end result was not in my favour.
"There's still room for improvement, but I think I have found the right tonic, the right mindset.
"I should not dwell on this defeat for long and start thinking about getting a fresh start at the Korea Open," said Zii Jia, who will travel to Seoul next week (Sept 24-29).
Meanwhile, in the men's doubles, national No 3, Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani also went down fighting 15-21, 21-13, 21-16 to world No 4, Takeshi Kamura-Keigo Sonoda of Japan.
In the mixed doubles, Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing were far from their best as they were shown the exit by Indonesia's Rinov Rivaldy-Pitha Haningtyas Mentari, who won 21-18, 16-21, 21-12.
Malaysia's interest in the women's doubles also came to an end when both Chow Mei Kuan-Lee Meng Yean and Vivian Hoo-Yap Cheng Wen failed to get the best of their opponents in their respective matches against fourth seeds Chen Qing Chen-Jia Yi Fan of China and Puttita Supajirakul-Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand.
Malaysia's consolation on the first day came through independent men's singles, Liew Daren, who scored a 13-21, 21-19, 21-15 win over Thailand's Sitthikom Thammasin.
Daren, last year's World Championships' bronze medallist, will take on Japan's Kanta Tsuneyama next for a place in Friday's quarter-finals.
Independent men's doubles, Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong also cleared the first round following a 21-6, 21-9 drubbing of Jelle Maas-Robin Tabeling from the Netherlands.The former world No 1 duo, who were recently crowned Taiwan Open champions, will face Denmark's Mathias Boe-Mads Conrad Petersen next.