Badminton Malaysia Masters 2023: Lee Zii Jia through to second round at home tournament - Loh Kean Yew suffers surprise exit
Former world number two Lee Zii Jia defeated Guang Zu Lu of China in straight sets. Chinese Taipei's Lin Chun-Yi awaits him in the round of 16.
Badminton
After helping Malaysia reach the Sudirman Cup semi-finals, Malaysia's badminton star Lee Zii Jia was back in action at the BWF Super 500 event in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday (24 May).
Lee had won two out of three prior clashes against Lu, and the home favourite managed to secure a third victory out of four by winning 12-21, 19-21 after 45 minutes of play.
Encouraged by the crowd, the former world number two got off to a great start leading 6-11 at the break of the first game. Lee continued where he left off after the break, winning the game 12-21.
During the second game, Guang Zu Lu showed why he reached the semi-finals at the Asian Championships earlier this year. At the break, the Chinese player was leading 11-9, and he increased the lead to 18-11 before Lee got back into the match. The Malaysian claimed the victory by winning the game 21-19 and got the Axiata Arena in the Malaysian capital buzzing.
In the second round the world number ten Lee will face Lin Chun-Yi from Chinese Taipei in a match to qualify for the quarterfinals.
Ng Tze Yong could not follow up on his countryman's success. The 23-year-old Malaysian crashed out of the tournament after losing 17-21, 21-16, 21-13 to Nishimoto Kenta.
The clash between Loh Kean Yew and Lakshya Sen saw a surprising winner, as the Indian beat the world number four 21-10, 16-21, 21-9.
In the second round the 28-year-old Japanese will play against Indonesia' third seed Jonathan Christie, who defeated Chi Yu-Jen 16-21, 21-18, 21-16 in his first round match.
Indian shuttler Prannoy H.S. who is ranked ninth in the world, took on world number six Chou Tien-Chen. After losing the first game 21-16, Prannoy fought back to win the second and third games 14-21, 13-21.
In the women's singles, world number one Yamaguchi Akane advanced to the round of 16 after defeating Aakarshi Kashyap 21-17, 21-12. Here, the Japanese will face the Dane Mia Blichfeldt.
Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu is also ready for round two of Malaysia Masters. In the first round, the 2019 world champion had a hard-fought win over Denmark’s Line Christophersen. Sindhu will now face world number 28 Ohori Aya of Japan in her next match on Thursday.