No. 1 seed Lee Zii Jia suffers shock elimination from German Open 2023
The Malaysian star started brightly in Muelheim an der Ruhr before falling to a thrilling three-game defeat against Chinese Taipei's Chia Hao Lee.
Badminton
Top-seeded Lee Zii Jia bowed out of the German Open 2023 with a shock 21-15, 21-22, 21-23 loss to Chia Hao Lee on Thursday (9 March).
The World No. 4 from Malaysia initially looked in dominating form at the BWF World Tour Super 300 match Muelheim an der Ruhr, wrapping up the first game in just 15 mins with one streak of nine-consecutive points.
But that seemed to wake up his opponent from Chinese Taipei, who took an early lead in the second game before Lee Zii Jia battled back to 8-8.
The lead then exchanged hands several times with neither man able to win more than two-consecutive points until the scores were 20-20. Chia Hao Lee then found the precision to seal it 22-21 and level the contest at one game each.
The third game followed suit in another brilliant contest that once again hit 20-20. Lee Zii Jia did have an opportunity to take the victory at 21-20, before Chia Hao Lee reeled off three-consecutive points to take a well-deserved win in 57 minutes.
Next up for the Chinese Taipei shuttler is a quarter-final clash against Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong, while the top seed is left to rue his opportunity to make a first quarter-final in six World Tour events.
Elsewhere for Malaysia, Youth Olympic Games Buenos Aires 2018 gold medallist Goh Jin Wei was knocked out of the women's singles by Thai eighth seed Pornpawee Chochuwong,21-13, 21-10.
It was better news for mixed doubles pair Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei, who beat sixth-seeded Seo Seungh Jae and Chae Yu Jung of the Republic of Korea.
German Open 2023: How to watch action live online and TV
The German Open will be livestreamed on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com in certain territories. It will also be shown globally, with broadcast partners in each region.
Mülheim is seven hours behind Singaporean time.
If you are unable to find a screen to watch the matches, look out for Olympics.com's reports on the results and best of the action from the event.