BWF French Open 2024: Lee Zii Jia out in round one
Malaysia's star shuttler suffered a first round exit at the BWF World Tour Super 750 event in Paris, France.
Badminton
Lee Zii Jia has crashed out in round one at the BWF Franch Open 2024.
Malaysia's badminton ace lost to Magnus Johannesen (Denmark) 21-15, 21-19 on Wednesday (6 March) in Paris and is forced to go back to the drawing board ahead of next week's prestigious All England Championships.
After having two good weeks of training back home in Kuala Lumpur, the World No. 10 struggled to find his rhythm, playing catach-up for most of the match.
It was all over after just 41 minutes.
Next up for Johannesen is men's singles world No. 2 Shi Yuqi, who defeated home favourite Christo Popov 21-14, 21-15. Popov claimed his first BWF World Tour title last week at the German Open.
Earlier in the day, Anders Antonsen eliminated Chia Hao Lee 21-16, 21-13.
In women's singles, Beiwen Zhang upset Rio 2016 Olympic champion Carolina Marín 14-21, 21-16, 21-17 to set up an encounter with former world champion PV Sindhu in the second round.
Two-time world champion Yamaguchi Akane had little trouble beating Gao Fang Jie in straight games and will now face Yvonne Li of Germany.
The BWF French Open 2024 concludes on Sunday (10 March).