Bangkok: In the 2024 Thailand Masters, Malaysian world no. 61 men’s singles player Cheam June Wei staged a comeback after losing the first game, advancing to the Round of 16. However, other men’s singles players Leong Jun Hao, women’s singles Wong Ling Ching, and Karupathevan Letshanaa were all eliminated in the first round.
Cheam, who secured a main draw entry after winning in the qualifiers, faced Czech player Jan Louda in the first round. After losing the first game 15-21, Cheam made a strong comeback, winning the next two games 21-10, 21-15 against the 50th-ranked player in the world. This victory served as redemption for his defeat in the Wales International Challenge two years ago, and Cheam now leads in their head-to-head record 2-1. Cheam is set to face Dutch player Mark Caljouw in the next round.
Meanwhile, the world no. 37 Leong Jun Hao couldn’t maintain the excellent performance he displayed last week in the Indonesia Masters. In the first round of men’s singles, he lost to the world no. 70th-ranked Indian player S. Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian with scores of 14-21, 17-21. Subramanian will face Taiwan’s Lin Chun-Yi on Thursday.
The men’s doubles competitions saw Malaysia’s world no. 12 men’s doubles pair, Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi are playing Denmark’s Andreas Søndergaard/Jesper Toft on Thursday. However, Choong Hon Jian/Muhammad Haikal had to withdraw due to Haikal’s ankle injury sustained during the first-round match.
In mixed doubles, the 2nd-seeded Chen Tangjie/Toh Ee Wei will set up an all-Malaysian second-round battle with teammates Hoo Pang Ron/Cheng Su Yin, who received a walkover as their first-round opponents, the English pair Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith, withdrew from the competition.
