PETALING JAYA: Men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia’s worrying performance continued at the Macau Open after another disappointing first-round exit yesterday.
The 28-year-old has now suffered opening round defeats in five straight tournaments, stretching back to March, and his lacklustre performance was not a pleasant sight at the Macau East Asian Games Dome.
World No. 63 Zii Jia was sent packing in the opening round after world No. 43 Prahdiska Bagas of Indonesia dominated the match and won their first-ever meeting 21-12, 22-20.
Zii Jia has not entered the second round of any tournament in five outings, following disappointing results at the Australian Open, Thailand Open, Orleans Masters and Swiss Open.
The loss also hampers Zii Jia’s hopes of eventually being able to compete in higher-tier tournaments, as his rankings could take a dip after the string of poor results. He needs to be in the top 32 to qualify for Super 750 tournaments and higher.
Fellow men’s singles shuttlers Aidil Sholeh Ali Sadikin and Justin Hoh also saw their runs in Macau end early.
Aidil was defeated by top seed Angus Ng Ka Long 19-21, 13-21, while Justin lost to Thailand’s Kanthphon Wangcharoen 9-21, 18-21.
However, there was promise in the men’s singles department for Malaysia as world No. 80 Eogene Ewe pulled off a stunning comeback to defeat sixth seed and world No. 36 Jason Gunawan of Hong Kong to enter the second round. Eogene, 21, had to go the distance but got the job done as he won 21-16, 14-21, 21-19 against Jason in their first meeting on court.
He has set up a meeting with compatriot Cheam June Wei in the second round after the latter defeated home player Pui Pang Fong in a similar comeback fashion after he won 14-21, 21-15, 21-11.
Meanwhile, in the women’s singles category, Goh Jin Wei got off to a winning start after she beat Indonesia’s Ni Kadek Dhinda 21-13, 21-16.
Jin Wei will need to tread cautiously as she faces eighth seed Anmol Kharb of India in the second round.
However, S. Kisona’s campaign ended early after she was beaten by India’s Rakshitha Sree 21-16, 24-22.
