Chong Wei, Chen Long suffer early exits
Published on: Thursday, January 18, 2018
Kuala Lumpur: World number two Datuk Lee Chong Wei began the new year on a losing note when he made an early exit from the Perodua Malaysian Masters Championship after losing to Japan's Kenta Nishimoto in the first round at the Axiata Arena, Kuala Lumpur Sports City, here, Wednesday.The Malaysian, seeded second, lost to the 29th ranked Japanese in three gruelling sets 21-19, 18-21, 19-21 in 77 minutes.Chong Wei had been looking to win a sixth Malaysian Masters title.
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Earlier on Wednesday, China's world number four Chen Long suffered a stunning first round defeat to Indonesia's Anthony Sinisuka Ginting losing in straight sets 17-21, 15-21 in 43 minutes.Chen Long, the reigning Olympic gold medallist, facing the press after the match said he was very disappointed with his poor performance in his first championship this year."My game was not very good today, I'm disappointed with my own performance as this is the first tournament this year. Besides that, I need time to adapt with the BWF (Badminton World Federation) new rules regarding the service," he said.Anthony said scalping the ace was a great start for him this year and hoped to show consistent performance down the road.
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Meanwhile, professional player Liew Daren upstaged Son Wan Ho to easily reach the second round.The qualifier beat the fourth seeded player from South Korea in straight sets, 21-15, 21-13, to set up a meeting with Jeon Hyeok Jin, another South Korean player.
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"It is very satisfying as I did not expect to beat him (Son Wan Ho). I attacked him in the first set and won. Seeing that he was not confident. I continued to attack and wrapped up the second set."There is no pressure since I am a professional player. I hope to win one or two tournaments this year to raise my world ranking," said Liew, who is currently ranked 88 in the world.Another local player, Lee Zii Jia beat Emil Holst of Denmark, 21-12, 21-18, and will play Jonatan Christie of Indonesia, who upset the sixth seed, Chou Tien Chen of Taiwan, 21-11, 24-22.Zii Jia admitted that would not be easy for him to beat Christie who won the singles gold medal at the 2017 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games."I was determined not to repeat the bad performance here (Axiata Arena) in the SEA Games. I am very happy to start on a winning note but I cannot relax because the journey is still far away," he added.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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