BANGKOK: Former Asian junior champion Leong Jun Hao will need to buck up if he wants to break into the world top 30.
In the first round of the Thailand Masters today, Jun Hao suffered a humiliating 21-14, 21-17 defeat to India's qualifier S. Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian.
The 20-year-old Sankar may be a World Junior Championships runner-up (2022), but it's no excuse for
Jun Hao to lose to a much lower-ranked player.
Since he was called up to replace the injured Justin Hoh at the Badminton Asia Team Championships (BATC) on Feb 13-18, Jun Hao will have very little time to pick up the pieces, and he has to play a strong supporting role for his teammates.
There was some consolation though as independent shuttler Cheam June Wei cleared his hurdle after downing Czech Republic's Jan Louda 15-21, 21-10, 21-15.
Jun Wei, who is the sole Malaysian men's singles representative, will play the Netherlands' Mark Caljouw in the second round tomorrow.
Meanwhile, it was a bad day for the majority of the Malaysian players.
In the women's singles first round, K. Letshanaa was outclassed 21-13, 21-9 by Thailand's former world champion Ratchanok Intanon while Wong Ling Ching suffered a 21-10, 21-16 defeat to India's Ashmita Chaliha.
In the men's doubles, Malaysia's Chia Weijie-Liew Xun lost 10-21, 21-14, 21-19 to China's He Ji Ting-Ren Xiang Yu.
Speaking to SpoTV after the match, Weijie said: "It's a good experience but they were more consistent than us, especially when winning those crucial points.
"We will go back and discuss with our coaches the minor areas that we need to improve on."
In the mixed doubles first round, independents Chan Peng Soon-Cheah Yee See lost 24-22, 21-18 to Hong Kong's Reginald Lee-Ng Tsz Yau, while qualifiers Choong Hon Jian-Go Pei Kee succumbed 21-7, 21-14 to homesters and former world champions Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai.