Momota Kento, Lee Zii Jia crash out in first round of 2022 Japan Open badminton event

The second day of badminton's 2022 Japan Open was nothing short of wild.

Several of the top seeds at the tournament in Osaka fell at the first hurdle on Wednesday (31 August), including Momota Kento and Lee Zii Jia in men's singles.

Other casualties were Commonwealth Games gold medallist Lakshya Sen, 2021 men's doubles world champion Hoki Takuro/Kobayashi Yugo and women's doubles up-and-comer Matsuyama Nami/Shida Chiharu.

Unable to take the court due to a lower-back injury, sixth-ranked Anthony Sinisuka Ginting also gave a free pass to Kunlavut Vitidsarn, the runner-up at last week's BWF world championships in Tokyo.

Home hope Momota "came up short"

Momota, who has been struggling to regain his form ever since a January 2020 car accident, failed to redeem himself after being eliminated in the second round in Tokyo.

The former world No. 1 was better on this day against Indonesia's Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo than he was at the worlds but could not force a third game.

After dropping the first set 21-15, Momota was up 20-17 in the second - yet allowed Wardoyo the last five points to give away the match.

With newly crowned world champion Viktor Axelsen also out of this tournament, it was thought a Momota reprisal might possibly be in the works on home soil.

It didn't turn out that way.

"I thought I was able to play with some thought today," he told Olympics.com.

"I went out on the court today, wanting to play relaxed. My style of game is to back the opponent in a corner, put pressure on him. I came up short, didn't finish the job.

"I'm not close to where I want to be but I'm hoping to put it all together bit by bit. I'll have to look back on the match and hopefully be able to see what I need to do."

Lee Zii Jia's mental struggle

Lee, widely regarded as the one player on the BWF Tour who has a shot of outslugging Axelsen, went down 22-20, 23-21 at the hands of Kidambi Srikanth.

Like Momota, Lee's first round exit follows a disappointing performance in Tokyo. The Malaysian was upset by Zhao Jun Peng in the round of 16 after skipping the Commonwealth Games to focus on the world championships.

In both games against Kidambi, Lee had game point but allowed his Indian opponent to turn the tables on him and win.

Lee believes the reason for his recent slide is mental. He just doesn't know how to snap out it.

"It's a disappointing performance for me," Lee said. "I think the focus for me wasn't really good while I was on the court, and this is the most important thing. I have to do something after going back to Malaysia.

"It might be a very big problem for me, my concentration on the court. Something is bothering me and I don't know what it is. This is something I need to find out.

"I couldn't say it's because of the loss in the world championships. This is one of the process I have to go through on the journey. I have to go through it. It's a process.

"It's mostly mental, about my focus. It's something I have to discuss with my team, and figure something out to solve it."

Some of the big names however did get the job done despite the short turnaround from Tokyo, like two-time defending women's world champion Yamaguchi Akane, Carolina Marin and the mixed doubles world champion, Zheng Si Wei/Huang Ya Qiong.

Yamaguchi dismissed Saina Nehwal of India 21-9, 21-17 while Marin beat Zhang Yi Man 21-19, 21-11 despite being down by as much as five points in the first game.

Marin - who lost to Yamaguchi in the quarter-finals in Tokyo - said the one-day turnaround has not been easy

"I am on my way to having a good performance. It was really important to get a feeling as a whole," said the Spaniard, who is seeded fifth here.

"Today when I started I was on the far side and should have controlled the shuttle much better. In the second game, it was easier to play on the slow side and you can control the opponent, the shuttle much better. Happy that I could win my first match though.

"What I said to my body was keep going, keep going. I need to keep fighting until the game is over. And this is what I did. I want to think game by game so looking forward to playing again tomorrow."

Tokyo 2020 women’s gold medallist and last week’s runner-up Chen Yu Fei progressed. She won over Lin Hojmark Kjaersfeldt 21-12, 21-15.