Eogene stuns Zii Jia in Korea Masters opening round

PETALING JAYA: National men's singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia suffered another early exit, this time at the hands of his own junior Eogene Ewe, in the last 32 of the Korea Masters badminton championship in Asan, South Korea, today.

The Kedah-born former world No. 2, now ranked 54th in the world, went down 9-21, 19-21 to the 21-year-old Eogene in just 28 minutes.

Eogene, ranked 75th in the world, will face world No. 42 Su Li Yang of Taiwan in the second round tomorrow.

June Wei topples second seed

Another Malaysian singles player, Cheam June Wei, produced an upset of his own by beating second seed Jason Teh of Singapore 21-13, 21-19 in 39 minutes.

The win by world No. 72 June Wei narrowed his head-to-head record against Jason, ranked 29th in the world, to 3-4.

June Wei next meets young Chinese player Dong Tian Yao, ranked 49th in the world. He lost to Tian Yao 11-21, 12-21 in their only previous meeting at the China Masters last year.

Ming Hong, Kisona bow out

The successes of Eogene and June Wei were not matched by another national representative, Lim Ming Hong, who fell to England's Harry Huang 21-16, 16-21, 8-21 in 55 minutes.

Women's singles player S. Kisona met the same fate, losing to China's Han Qian Xi 20-22, 13-21 in 35 minutes.

In the men's doubles, Taiwan Open runners-up Aaron Chia-Aaron Tai advanced to the second round after beating India's Bhargav Ram Arigela-Viswa Tej Gobburu 21-17, 21-15 in 27 minutes.

The reshuffled pair, showing growing chemistry, will next take on the South Korea-Malaysia combination of Choi Sol Gyu-Goh V Shem, seeded second, for a place in the quarter-finals.

In the women's doubles, Malaysia's teenage pair Low Zi Yu-Noraqilah Maisarah Ramdan were halted by hosts Moon In Seo-Park Seul 21-19, 18-21, 17-21 in one hour and five minutes. – UTUSAN