KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian badminton fans were left dumfounded and couldn't believe their eyes. Their hero, the great Lee Zii Jia, shockingly crashed out in the very first round of the Petronas Malaysia Open today at Axiata Arena, Bukit Jalil.
World No 2 Zii Jia was ambushed in his backyard by a Japanese. And the fellow was not the great Kento Momota. Remember his name - Kodai Naraoka. He stunned Zii Jia 13-21, 21-17, 21-19.
"Of course I'm disappointed, but I've given my all on court today. I have to accept the result," lamented Zii Jia in his post-match interview.
"I still need to improve when it comes to managing the draught (at the stadium). The conditions suited Naraoka better, he was also more patient," added Zii Jia.
Somehow, there have been too many banana skins in Zii Jia's home tournament - the Malaysia Open. Since his debut in 2019, he has never made it past the second round.
This means that the much anticipated all-Malaysian second round clash between Zii Jia and national No 1 Ng Tze Yong will never happen.
Instead, it will be Tze Yong who takes on Naraoka in the next round tomorrow for a place in the quarter-finals.
SELECTED RESULTS
Men's singles: Kunlavut Vitidsarn (Tha) bt Shesar Hiren Rhustavito (Ina) 21-23, 21-19, 24-22, Loh Kean Yew (Sin) bt Li Shi Feng (Chn) 21-19, 23-21, H.S.Prannoy (Ind) bt Lakshya Sen (Ind) 22-24, 21-12, 21-18, Ng Tze Yong bt Nhat Nguyen (Ire) 21-4, 21-10, Kodai Naraoka (Jpn) bt Lee Zii Jia 13-21, 21-17, 21-19
Doubles: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty (Ind) bt Choi Solgyu-Kim Won Ho (Kor) 21-16, 21-13, Liu Yu Chen-Ou Xuan Yi (Chn) bt Ben Lane-Sean Vendy (Eng) 21-19, 24-22, Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik bt Lee Jhe Huei-Yang Po Hsuan (Tai) 16-21, 21-15, 21-16, Gideon Marcus Fernaldi-Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo (Ina) bt Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun 21-18, 23-21, Liang Wei Keng-Wang Chang (Chn) bt Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani 16-21, 21-11, 21-17
Women's singles: Chen Yufei (Chn) bt Nozomi Okuhara (Jpn) 21-9, 21-17, Goh Jin Wei bt Yvonne Li (Ger) 21-11, 21-18, An Se Young (Kor) bt Malvika Bansod (Ind) 21-9, 21-13, Carolina Marin (Spa) bt P.V. Sindhu (Ind) 21-12, 10-21, 21-15, Wang Zhi Yi (Chn) bt Zhang Yi Man (Chn) 21-16, 21-10
Women's doubles: Zhang Shu Xian-Zheng Yu (Chn) bt Yuki Fukushima-Sayaka Hirota (Jpn) 21-15, 19-21, 21-16, Baek Ha Na-Lee Yu Lim (Kor) bt Jonkolphan Kititharakul-Rawinda Prajongjai (Tha) 21-15, 17-21, 21-16, Go Pei Kee-Teoh Mei Xing bt Vivian Hoo-Lim Chiew Sien 21-13, 21-13, Lee So Hee-Shin Seung Chan (Kor) bt Du Yue-Xia Yu Ting (Chn) 21-19, 22-20
Mixed doubles: Seo Seung Jae-Chae Yu Jung (Kor) bt Reginald Lee Chun Hei-Ng Tsz Yau (Hkg) 21-17, 26-24, Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai (Tha) bt Supak Jomkoh-Supissara Paewsampran (Tha) 21-14, 21-14, Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino (Jpn) 21-9, 21-16, Rehan Naufal Kushar-Lisa Ayu Kusumawati (Ina) bt Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying 18-21, 21-15, 21-7, Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei bt Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing 21-15, 21-10