Running out of steam: Lee Zii Jia did not look his usual energetic self against Canada’s world No. 24 Brian Yang and lost the opening game 14-21.
PETALING JAYA: Independent men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia’s good run in the Indonesian Masters came to an end after he was forced to retire from his quarter-final match due to ill health.
World No. 10 Zii Jia did not look his usual energetic self against Canada’s world No. 24 Brian Yang and lost the opening game 14-21 in Jakarta yesterday.
It was the first time that the 25-year-old ever lost a game to Yang after beating the latter in straight games in all five of their past encounters in international tournaments.
Zii Jia then made the decision to throw in the towel after holding discussions with his coach Wong Tat Meng.
Team LZJ later disclosed via social media that Zii Jia had been suffering from food poisoning for the past two days.
“Unfortunately, Zii Jia had to retire mid-match as his body condition deteriorated after a severe case of food poisoning for the past couple of days,” read the statement.
“He really tried his best to perform but was unable to complete the match against Brian.”
It was tough luck for Zii Jia just when it looked like he was getting into his groove.
He did well to come from behind to beat India’s 2021 World Championships silver medallist K. Srikanth 19-21, 21-14, 21-11 in his opening match before ousting Tat Meng’s former charge Angus Ng Ka Long 22-20, 21-15 in the second round.
Zii Jia now will look to recover well before his next assignment – the Asian Team Championships from Feb 13-18 in Setia Alam.
Meanwhile, Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah and Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing are also out of the women’s and mixed doubles respectively.
World No. 13 Pearly-Thinaah lost out 16-21, 9-21 to China’s Malaysian Open champions Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning.
It was the former’s second consecutive defeat to the world No. 5 Chinese pair after also coming out second best in the first round of the Malaysian tourney.
Kian Meng-Pei Jing on the other hand gave China’s world No. 1 Zheng Siwei-Huang Yaqiong a run for the money before going down fighting 21-18, 18-21, 13-21 in 59 minutes.
RESULTS
(Malaysians only)Second round
Men’s doubles: Sabar Karyaman-Moh Reza (Ina) bt Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi 21-15, 21-11; Daniel Lundgaard-Mads Vestergaard (Den) bt Choong Hon Jian-Mohd Haikal Nazri 21-17, 21-19.
Quarter-finals
Men’s singles: Brian Yang (Can) bt Lee Zii Jia 21-14, ret.
Women’s doubles: Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning (Chn) bt Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah 21-16, 21-9.
Mixed doubles: Zheng Siwei-Huang Yaqiong (Chn) bt Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing 18-21, 21-18, 21-13.
