National men’s singles ace Lee Zii Jia produced a stunning comeback to eliminate Wang Tzu Wei of Taiwan in the first round of Denmark Open 2021 today.
After losing 12-21 in the first game, the 2021 All England champion regained his composure to take the next two games at 21-9 and 21-18 in a match that lasted 50 minutes at the Odense Sports Park.
The seventh seeded Zii Jia will take on either fellow Malaysian Liew Daren or home shuttler Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus in the next round.
Meanwhile, Tokyo Olympics men’s doubles bronze medallists Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik had no problem getting past their first hurdle as they took just 23 minutes to trounce Dutch pair Ruben Jille-Ties Van Der Lecq 21-17, 21-9.
Aaron-Wooi Yik will next clash with Japanese pair Akira Koga-Taichi Saito, who defeated compatriots Keiichiro Matsui-Yoshinori Takeuchi 21-18, 19-21, 21-14.
Rio 2016 silver medallists Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying suffered a huge setback after they lost 17-21, 19-21 to Chang Tak Ching-Ng Wing Yung of Hong Kong.
In another men’s doubles match, it was a debut to forget for the new professional pairing of Goh V Shem-Low Juan Shen as they lost to Tokyo Olympics champions Lee Yang-Wang Chi Lin 14-21, 18-21.