Zii Jia, June Wei bundled out of US Open in 2nd round

PETALING JAYA: National men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia suffered another early exit since his return to competitive badminton in January, losing in the second round to India’s Srikanth Kidambi at the US Open, held at the California State University Fullerton.

After a positive performance in the opening round on Wednesday, where he beat a Vietnamese player, the Olympic bronze medalist went down 14-21, 13-21 in 30 minutes and was seen struggling to keep pace with his opponent.

The head-to-head score between the two players now stands at 6-3 in Zii Jia’s favour. This is their first encounter since the Malaysian shuttler’s layoff last year.

The former world No 2, whose ranking dropped drastically after the seven-month layoff due to an ankle injury, has only managed two quarter-final appearances in the last 10 Badminton World Federation World Tour championships.

He was knocked out in the first round in five tournaments and reached the last 16 in three championships this year. Zii Jia’s next tournament is the Canada Open which begins next Tuesday.

In another men’s singles match played earlier, Israeli shuttler Misha Zilberman defeated Malaysia’s Cheam June Wei, 21-15, 21-19, in 36 minutes in a last 16 match.

Lee and Cheam are the only two entrants from Malaysia at the US Open.