PETALING JAYA: Paris Olympics gold medallist Viktor Axelsen (pic) was brought back down to earth at the China Open when he was knocked out in the first round by homester Lei Lanxi yesterday.
Lanxi, who was beaten by the Dane in the Hong Kong Open final last week, exacted sweet revenge with a 21-19, 17-21, 21-16 win in a clash that lasted more than an hour at the Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium in Changzhou.
World No. 2 Axelsen noted that the tight schedule was a challenge for both players after their final in Hong Kong on Sunday but admitted that Lanxi, ranked No. 28, was the better player yesterday.
“He played a fantastic game, so all credit to him. He played way better than I did,” said Axelsen.
“We just played each other on Sunday, so we had a bit of a challenge coming here and I only arrived at 8pm on Tuesday.’’
Lanxi will now face Kenta Nishimoto in the second round after the Japanese beat India’s Kiran George 4-21, 21-10, 23-21 yesterday.
Axelsen’s early exit comes after Malaysia’s world No. 3 Lee Zii Jia also suffered a 15-21, 2-21 first-round loss to Japan’s Koki Watanabe on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, national shuttler Leong Jun Hao almost caused an upset against Toma Popov before bowing out 25-23, 24-26, 19-21. Frenchman Popov will face Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie next.
In the mixed doubles Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei advanced to the second round after beating India’s K. Satish Kumar-V. Aadya 21-14, 21-11. They face Indonesia’s Dejan Ferdinansyah-Gloria Widjaja today.
Men’s doubles pair Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi had to come from behind to defeat Taiwan’s Lee Jhe-huei-Yang Po-hsuan 13-21, 21-16, 21-15. They play another Taiwanese duo Lee Fang-chih-Lee Fang-jen today.
But it was all over for Choong Hon Jian-Mohd Haikal Nazri as they fell to world No. 3 Kang Min-hyuk-Seo Seung-jae of South Korea 10-21, 18-21.
