KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 19 — It was a day to forget for Malaysia’s top men and women’s singles shuttlers — Lee Zii Jia and Soniia Cheah — when they crashed out in the first round of the Toyota Thailand Open at the Impact Arena in Bangkok today.
Zii Jia suffered his second setback in the Asian leg of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour when the Kedahan was sent packing 21-18, 25-27, 19-21 by Sameer Verma of India, while Soniia went down 9-21, 14-21 to former Asian champion Sung Ji-hyun of South Korea.
World No 20 Sameer took one hour and 15 minutes to dispose of world No 8 Zii Jia, who had gone down to Taiwan’s Chou Tien Chen in the quarter-finals of the Yonex Thailand Open last week.
Verma is set to take on Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke in the second round on Thursday.
Zii Jia, the 22-year-old SEA Games champion, admitted to making mistakes right from the start, although it did not stop him from winning the first game.
“… the second game was a long one. In the final game, you can see that Sameer led the whole way. I tried my best,” he was quoted as saying on the official BWF website https://bwfworldtour.bwfbadminton.com.
However, there was good news for other Malaysian shuttlers, including women’s singles player S. Kisona, as they put aside last week’s disappointment to advance into the second round.
Kisona, the 2019 SEA Games champion, ousted Egyptian Doha Hany 21-10, 21-7 to set up a daunting second-round date with reigning world champion and 2016 Rio Olympics silver medallist P. V. Sindhu of India.
Independent men’s doubles pair Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong, who were the sole Malaysians to move past the quarter-final stage to finish second in last week’s Yonex Thailand Open, also cruised into the next round.
The Rio silver medallist were leading 6-2 in the first game when their opponents, South Koreans Lee Yong Dae-Kim Gi Jung, withdrew due to an injury.
Other first-round results
(Note: All Malaysians unless stated and [ ] denotes seeding)
Men’s doubles:
[8] Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik bt Weeraphat Phakjarung/Wongsathorn Thongkham (THA) 21-10, 21-18
Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi bt Nipitphon Phuangphuapet- Tanupat Viriyangkura (THA) 19-21, 21-13, 21-19
Supak Jomkoh-Kittinupong Kedren (THA) bt Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani 13-21, 21-13, 21-17
Women’s doubles:
Vivian Hoo-Yap Cheng Wen bt Chloe Birch-Lauren Smith (ENG) 21-14, 21-14
Mixed doubles:
[5] Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying bt Jones Ralfy Jansen-Kilasu Ostermeyer (GER) 21-13, 21-13
Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Jemie Lai bt Ronan Labar-Anne Tran 21-12, 21-15 (FRA) — Bernama
