KUALA LUMPUR: It was just not a good day for Malaysian men's singles badminton.
On the home front today, national No 1 Lee Zii Jia delivered a shocker by tendering his resignation to the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM).
Away from home, his next-in-line – world No 47 Ng Tze Yong – also had no joy when he was forced to concede a walkover due to illness from the Syed Modi International in Lucknow, India.
The Johorean, who reached the semi-finals of the India Open last week, pulled out from his first round match against Thailand's Adulrach Namkul after falling ill.
The Thai shuttler goes on to face Ireland's Nhat Nguyen, who progressed after his opponent Sameer Verma of India retired whilst trailing 2-7 in the first game.
There were concerns that Tze Yong tested positive for Covid-19, especially since there was an outbreak during the India Open.
BAM, however, confirmed that Tze Yong did not test positive and was just feeling unwell.
There were, however, better fortunes for independent shuttlers Soong Joo Ven and Cheam June Wei.
World No 65 Joo Ven cleared his first hurdle with a 21-18, 21-15 win over India's S. Sankar Muthusamy, while world No 72 June Wei slogged before beating Canada's Sheng Xiaodong 19-21, 22-20, 21-17.
In men's doubles, eighth seeds Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun progressed by beating homesters Ravi-Chirag Arora 21-10, 21-6.
They meet another Indian pair in Himanshu Mittal-Shubham Sharma in the second round.
In mixed doubles, India Open runners-up Chen Tang Jie-Peck Yen Wei were off to a winning start as they looked for a quick rebound.
The second seeds downed India's Pratik Ranade-Kanika Kanwal 21-14, 21-12 and meet India's Dhruv Rawat-Shikha Gautam next.
The senior-junior pairing of Chan Peng Soon-Valeree Siow also progressed by beating India's Santhosh Gajendran-Deethya Jagadish 21-16, 21-13.
There were also three women's doubles pairs – Valeree-Low Yeen Yuan, Anna Cheong-Teoh Mei Xing and Vivian Hoo-Lim Chiew Sien – who progressed into the second round.