BANGKOK, May 16 — National professional men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia downed South Korea's Jeon Hyeok Jin 22-20, 21-7 to storm into the quarter-finals of the Thailand Open at the Nimibutr Stadium today.
The sixth-seeded Lee took just 36 minutes to win the second-round tie and set up a quarter-final date against China's world number 19 Lu Guang Zu tomorrow.
The Kedahan said he expects a tough match against Guang Zu.
"As we all know, Guang Zu is a very good defensive and rally player… it is going to be a tough game due to the draught in the arena while the shuttlecock is a bit slow," he said.
World number 10 Lee was the only bright spark for Malaysia in today's second-round matches as the other national players fell by the wayside.
National men's singles shuttler Leong Jun Hao went down fighting 22-20, 14-21, 21-23 to reigning world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand in a hard-fought one hour and 32-minute battle.
Despite losing, he said there are still many positives that he could take from the match.
"Overall, I am satisfied with my performance today as it is always tough playing against the home favourite. I hope to put up another good performance in the Malaysia Masters next week," Leong told Bernama after the match.
Earlier, two Malaysian mixed doubles pairs — Yap Roy King-Valeree Siow and Choong Hon Jian-Go Pei Kee — also crashed out of the tournament.
Yap-Siow went down 11-21, 16-21 to top seeds Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand while Choong-Go lost 15-21, 15-21 to tournament seventh-seeded Rehan Naufal Kusharjanto-Lisa Ayu Kusumawati of Indonesia.
— Bernama
[caption id="attachment_356989" align="aligncenter" width="1012"]
National badminton and men's singles athlete Leong Jun Hao in action during his match against Thailand's Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the quarter-finals of the Thailand Open at the Nimibutr Stadium in Bangkok, on May 16, 2024. — Picture via FACEBOOK/BADMINTON ASSOCIATION OF MALAYSIA - BAM[/caption]
