PETALING JAYA: Men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia shook off his recent struggles to reach the second round of the Arctic Open in Finland.
World No. 4 Zii Jia, who has been struggling physically since winning bronze in the Paris Olympics in August, showed signs of returning to his best form when he beat world No. 27 Frenchman Christo Popov 21-15, 21-11 at the Energia Arena in Vantaa, Finland, yesterday.
It was the independent player’s first victory in a match since the Olympics after he suffered first- round exits in the Japan and China Opens.
Zii Jia, who captured the title in Finland last year, will face Japan’s world No. 30 Yushi Tanaka next for a place in the last eight.
Tanaka showed that he was no pushover when he stunned China’s Hong Kong Open runner-up Lei Lanxi 21-17, 27-29, 21-16 in a thrilling opening match.
Zii Jia is the last Malaysian left in the men’s singles after world No. 29 Leong Jun Hao suffered an early exit.
Jun Hao went down 19-21, 9-21 to Hong Kong’s world No. 16 Lee Cheuk Yiu.
It was the 25-year-old’s second straight defeat to Cheuk Yiu after he also lost to the latter in the second round of the Hong Kong tourney.
K. Yogendran, who recently was switched from coaching the women’s singles to men’s singles in the national team, said that Jun Hao could not maintain his form after a good start.
“Jun Hao started well and used the right strategy but he could not sustain this and lost the first game,” lamented Yogendran.
“Cheuk Yiu was in control throughout the second game. I have discussed with Jun Hao on what went wrong for him and we will work on this these few days.
“Hopefully, he can play better in the Denmark Open next week.”
Meanwhile, in the men’s doubles, Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun made it into the second round after impressively coming from behind to beat Indonesia’s Korean Open champions Leo Rolly-Bagas Maulana 17-21, 21-18, 21-12.
World No. 13 Wei Chong-Kai Wun stayed calm after losing the first game and managed to turn the tide superbly to narrowly snatch the second before staying in control to win the third game.
The pair had finished runners-up in last year’s edition and now have a good opportunity to reach the last eight as they will play Scotland’s Alexander Dunn-Adam Pringle next.
It was disappointment though for Yap Roy King-Wan Arif Wan Junaidi after they lost 17-21, 19-21 to Taiwan’s Lin Bing-wei-Su Ching-heng.
In the mixed doubles, world No. 28 Hoo Pang Ron-Cheng Su Yin continued their recent good form when they ousted China’s Macau Open champions Guo Xinwa-Chen Fanghui 21-16, 21-10 to set up a meeting with Taiwan’s world No. 13 Yang Po-hsuan-Hu Ling-fang.
China Open runners-up Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie are also through to the second round after easily overcoming Czech Republic’s Ondrej Kral-Tereza Svabikova 21-14, 21-16.
Soon Huat-Shevon though have a tricky match next against Thailand’s 2021 world champion Dechapol Puavaranukroh, who now partners Supissara Paewsampran.
