PETALING JAYA: Men’s singles shuttler Leong Jun Hao’s Denmark Open journey came to an early end after going down 13-21, 16-21 to China’s Li Shifeng in the first round at the Jyske Bank Arena in Odense on Thursday (Oct 16).
It was Jun Hao’s fourth straight defeat to Li since he last beat the Chinese player at the India Open in January. Overall, he has now lost eight of their nine meetings since their first encounter at the Thomas Cup in Chengdu last year.
It was also a disappointing day for the national camp as women’s doubles pair Go Pei Kee-Teoh Mei Xing were shown the exit after losing 5-21, 16-21 to South Korea’s Jeong Na-eun-Lee Yeon-woo.
Independent mixed doubles pair Wong Tien Ci-Lim Chiew Sien endured the same fate, falling 7-21, 14-21 to India’s Dhruv Kapila-Tanisha Crasto.
In the men’s doubles, Teo Ee Yi-Ong Yew Sin went down fighting 19-21, 14-21 to French brothers Christo Popov-Toma Junior Popov, while Wan Arif Wan Junaidi-Yap Roy King fell 15-21, 19-21 to Japan’s Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi.
Thankfully, young women’s doubles duo Ong Xin Yee-Carmen Ting provided some consolation after advancing to the second round with a convincing 21-11, 21-16 win over Ukraine’s Polina Buhrova-Yevheniia Kantemyr.
However, their resolve will be put to the test when they take on third seeds Kim Hye-jong-Kong Hee-yong in the next round.
