BWF Korea Open 2023: Lee Zii Jia's return to competition ends in first-round defeat, Loh Kean Yew through
The Malaysian shuttler, who has plummeted to 17th in the world rankings from no. 2, suffered a three-game defeat to Ng Ka Long Angus. Singapore's Loh Kean Yew is through to the second round.
Badminton
Lee Zii Jia's first tournament after his comeback to competitive badminton ended in the first round of the 2023 BWF Korea Open as the Malaysian was dumped out in Yeosu, Republic of Korea, on Wednesday (19 July).
The eighth seed and former men's singles world no. 2, who took a month away from competition in June to reset and rediscover his "passion on the court", headed to Yeosu for his first tournament with new coach Wong Tat Meng.
However, paired against Hong Kong China's Ng Ka Long Angus, who in a twist of fate was coached by Wong at the Hong Kong Badminton Association until May, Lee could not end his losing streak which now stands at four consecutive meetings against Ng.
Lee started well, opening up a 14-10 lead in the first game before Ng won 11 of the last 12 points to take it 21-15. The second game was a far tighter affair, with neither man opening a lead of more than three points before Lee levelled the match by taking it 21-18.
However, the Malaysian seemed to let his concentration slip in the decider as Ng took seven points in a row to come from 10-12 down to 17-12 up. From there, Lee never regained the lead as Ng closed out a 21-15, 18-21, 21-17 win.
Wong has also targeted the Japan Open (25–30 July) and Australian Open (1–6 August) for Lee to prove himself before deciding on a dedicated training programme for his new charge.
Meanwhile, Singapore's Loh Kean Yew is through to the second round in the same quarter of the men's singles draw.
The 2021 world champion needed just 34 minutes to breeze past Malaysian opponent Leong Jun Hao 21-10, 21-14.
It means Loh and Ng would meet in the quarter-finals if they can get past Zhao Junpeng and Ng Tze Yong respectively in their second-round matches.
Top seed Naraoka Kodai and his Japanese teammate and former world no. 1 Momota Kento are also through. Naraoka dispatched Israel's Misha Zilberman 21-10, 21-15 in 36 minutes, while Momota had to dig deep, but topped another previous world no. 1 in India's Kidambi Srikanth 12-21, 24-22, 21-17 in a 1-hour-14-minute marathon.
In the women's draw, each of the top three seeds safely navigated their way into the second round. Yamaguchi Akane, An Seyoung, and Chen Yufei all registered victories – Yamaguchi's a laboured three-game affair against Pornpawee Chochuwong, while An and Chen both scored straight-games wins.