SINGAPORE: Action from the Aviva Singapore Open at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Thursday brought the biggest upset of the tournament as World No 1 Lee Chong Wei, the defending men’s champion, is out of the tournament.
Defending men’s champion Lee Chong Wei’s lack of preparation showed. The Malaysian was defeated by Vietnam’s Nguyen Tien Minh- 24-22, 20-22, 21-19 in an hour.
Singapore’s young shuttlers’ good run was also halted on Thursday.
The republic’s top ranked women’s singles player, Xing Aiying, had her work cut out for her. Xing was on court against China’s Wang Yihun, the second seed at the tournament, who went on to win 21-16, 8-21, 21-7.
Singapore’s Fu Mingtian beat seventh seed Lu Lan of China on Wednesday. But her latest opponent, Netherlands Judith Meulendijks, proved too strong as the Singaporean went down 21-18, 21-13.
Bucking the trend, the men’s doubles pairing of Hendri Saputra and Hendra Wijaya won 21-19, 21-16 against the Malaysian duo of Chan Chong Ming and Chew Choon Eng.