PETALING JAYA: Lee Zii Jia suffered a first-round exit in the Korean Open after he went down 15-21, 21-18, 17-21 to Hong Kong's Angus Ng Ka Long at the Jinnam Stadium in Yeosu on Wednesday (July 19).
In a closely fought match, the independent men's singles shuttler and world No. 17, who was competing for the first time in a tournament with the guidance of new coach Wong Tat Meng, could not raise his performance in the third game against the tenacious world No. 14 Angus.
It was Zii Jia's fourth defeat to Angus in five meetings and showed he has much work to do to rediscover his best form under Tat Meng.
This was Zii Jia's fifth consecutive early exit in individual tournaments.
Angus will take on another Malaysian, Ng Tze Yong, in the second round.
Tze Yong easily swept aside India's Mithun Manjunath in his opening round match, scoring 21-11, 21-4.
