PETALING JAYA: Men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia faces a tricky test in the Japan Masters from Nov 12-17 in Kumamoto.
Zii Jia will make his competitive return in the tournament after missing the Denmark Open in Odense last month due to an ankle injury that he picked up in his quarter-final defeat to Japan’s Koki Watanabe in the Arctic Open.
The world No. 7 should win his opening match in Japan against a qualifier before meeting China’s world No. 21 Weng Hongyang in the second round.
Hongyang should also triumph against a qualifier in the first round.
The 25-year-old is capable of causing big upsets as he proved when he captured the China Open title in September.
Hongyang stunned the likes of Denmark’s world No. 3 Anders Antonsen, Indonesia’s world No. 6 Jonatan Christie and Japan’s 2023 World Championships silver medallist Kodai Naraoka (No. 4) en-route to winning his home title.
Based on the head-to-head records, both Zii Jia and Hongyang are evenly matched as both have won three matches each.
The independent player did come out on top over the Chinese in their last two encounters in the French Open last year and Indonesian Open in June.
Another win for Zii Jia could see him take on Jonatan in the last eight.
Zii Jia needs a good result in the tournament to strengthen his position in the race to qualify for the prestigious season-ending World Tour Finals from Dec 11-15 in Hangzhou.
Currently, the 26-year-old is in fifth spot in the Race to Hangzhou rankings and needs to maintain his place in the top eight to make the cut.
Zii Jia cannot afford any slip-ups as the ranking points are very close between the men’s singles players.
Meanwhile, the other Malaysians in the fray in the Japan tourney are world No. 30 Leong Jun Hao and world No. 49 Justin Hoh.
Jun Hao has a tough task against India’s world No. 17 Lakshya Sen in the opening round while Justin will start from the qualifying rounds.
