Changzhou: Malaysia’s World No. 3 Lee Zii Jia faced another “dark moment” in his career, after being eliminated from the 2024 China Open in the first round on Tuesday.
More surprisingly, Lee lost to Japan’s World No. 15 Koki Watanabe in straight sets, 15-21, 2-21, in a match that lasted only 29 minutes.
Highlights of Lee Zii Jia vs. Koki Watanabe in the 2024 China Open 1st round:
Arriving in Changzhou as the third seed in this BWF Super 1000 tournament, Lee was expected to easily defeat Japan’s Koki Watanabe, but the opposite happened.
Although he seemed confident at the start of the match, the Kedah-born player collapsed in straight sets. After a 15-21 loss in the first set, a humiliating 2-21 defeat followed in the second set.
What is more disappointing is that this defeat comes after a poor performance at the Japan Open last month, where the 26-year-old also crashed out in the first round.
In a post-match interview with the Badminton World Federation (BWF), Lee Zii Jia admitted that he is not yet in peak condition, and, oddly enough, he doesn’t have answers for his current situation.
“As you can see, I was leading quite comfortably in the first set but couldn’t finish with a win,” said Lee.
“To be honest, I’m not at my best, and there are still many things I need to do to get back to my top form.”
“I haven’t disclosed this to the media, but since the Olympics, my body has felt strange. I’ve faced multiple injuries that I can’t even explain.”
The 2024 Paris Olympic bronze medalist further commented that his main focus is to regain his full fitness because his primary goal is to qualify for the BWF World Tour Finals.
“As I said, it’s quite strange because when I undergo high-intensity training, I experience pain everywhere — my elbow, knee, and my back stiffens up.”
“Anyway, this is something I have to sort out because I need to be at 100 percent fitness to qualify for the BWF World Tour Finals,” Lee stated.
Although he only spent 29 minutes on the court at the China Open, Lee revealed that his next plan is to compete in the Arctic Open 2024, scheduled to take place in Finland from October 8th to 13th.
In addition to Zii Jia, another player who exited in the first round was Malaysia’s World No. 35 women’s singles player Goh Jin Wei, who lost to Taiwan’s Sung Shuo Yun in three sets, 9-21, 21-12, 8-21.
On a brighter note, Malaysia’s World No. 12 men’s doubles pair, Goh Sze Fei/Nur Izzuddin, fought hard to pass the first round of the 2024 China Open. Goh/Izzuddin needed three sets to defeat the Chinese pair, Chen Bo Yang/Liu Yi 17-21, 21-12, 21-19 in a match that lasted 53 minutes.
