Yokohama: Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia suffered a surprising defeat to France’s Alex Lanier, being eliminated from the 2024 Japan Open first round in Yokohama on Tuesday.
The bronze medalist at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and the sixth seed of the tournament, failed to repeat his strong performance and lost to the world number 29, 21-18, 21-13, in a 41-minute match at the Super 750 tournament in Yokohama Arena.
Meanwhile, two Malaysian men’s doubles pairs, Goh Sze Fei/Nur Izzuddin Rumsani and Choong Hon Jian/Muhammad Haikal Nazri, progressed as expected to the second round.
Goh/Izzuddin, also the eighth seeds of the tournament, overcame local pair Kazuki Shibata/Naoki Yamada 21-13, 21-13 and will next face Liu Huang Keng/Yang Po Han from Taiwan.
Earlier, the unseeded Taiwanese pair qualified for the second round after defeating another Malaysian pair, Low Hang Yee/Ng Eng Cheong 21-13, 21-17.
Meanwhile, Choong/Haikal performed commendably after losing the first set to defeat the German pair, Bjaerne Geiss-Jan Colin Voelker 12-21, 21-11, 21-16 in a 55-minute match.
However, a tough task awaits the pair as they will next face the Indonesian duo, Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto.
Malaysia’s women’s singles player – Goh Jin Wei, who also competed at Paris 2024, failed to advance to the next round after losing to the tournament’s third seed from China, Wang Zhi Yi 21-18, 21-10.
In mixed doubles, Tan Kian Meng/Lai Pei Jing of Malaysia defeated Chiu Hsiang Chieh/Lin Jhih Yun of Taiwan 18-21, 21-17, 21-19 to make the second round.
