KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 4 — Professional men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia’s return to court appears to be on hold, as he has been marked ‘withdrawn’ from the 2025 Kumamoto Masters Japan Badminton Championships at the Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium in Kumamoto from November 11 to November 16.
The latest update was confirmed by the Badminton World Federation (BWF), which listed several withdrawals from the Super 500 tournament, including Danish player and Paris 2024 Olympic Games gold medallist Viktor Axelsen, his compatriot Anders Antonsen, and Indonesian players Jonatan Christie and Anthony Sinisuka Ginting.
However, Team LZJ has yet to reveal the main reason behind his withdrawal from the Kumamoto Masters Japan tournament.
In an Instagram post on October 1, it said that a medical expert had advised the Paris 2024 bronze medallist to undergo an extended rehabilitation programme for persistent low back pain.
As such, the 2021 All England champion had recently missed three European assignments, namely the Denmark Open, the French Open, and the Hylo Open.
Lee last played at the 2025 China Masters in September, where he was forced to retire in the deciding set of his opening-round match against Taiwan’s Lin Chun-Yi while trailing 6-14.
The Kedahan had earlier won the first set 21-17 before narrowly going down in the second set 21-23.
