KUCHING: Malaysia’s Leong Jun Hao produced an impressive opening-round victory at the Japan Open after upsetting world No. 19 Chi Yu Jen of Chinese Taipei to reach the men’s singles Round of 16 today (July 14).
The world No. 30 battled past the higher-ranked Taiwanese 21-19, 21-16 in a 50-minute contest at the BWF World Tour Super 750 tournament.
Jun Hao held his nerve in a tightly contested opening game before taking control in the second to wrap up the straight-games victory, becoming the first Malaysian to book a place in the last 16 in Tokyo.
Attention now turns to the remaining Malaysian shuttlers, with Sarawak’s Wong Ling Ching set for one of the toughest opening-round tests against 2019 world champion P.V. Sindhu of India.
Malaysia’s contingent comprises:
Men’s singles: Leong Jun Hao.
Women’s singles: Karupathevan Letshanaa and Wong Ling Ching.
Men’s doubles: Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin, Man Wei Chong-Soh Wooi Yik, Wan Junaidi Arif-Yap Roy King, Aaron Tai-Kang Khai Xing, Tan Wee Kiong-Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub, and Goh V Shem-Choi Sol Gyu (South Korea).
Women’s doubles: Pearly Tan-Thinaah Muralitharan and Ong Xin Yee-Carmen Ting.
Mixed doubles: Goh Soon Huat-Shevon, Chen Tang Jie-Clarissa San, Wong Tien Ci-Lim Chiew Sien, and Jimmy Wong-Cheng Su Yin.
