Lee Zii Jia is still wating for his first BWF World Tour victory since reaching the quarter-finals of the Orleans Masters in early March.
After suffering back-to-back first round exits, Malaysian badminton star was forced to retire against world number 16 Lin Chun-Yi of Chinese Taipei in the opening round at the Super 750 China Masters in Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China.
Lee even had one match point on Wednesday (17 September) before he had to end the match ar 21-17, 20-22, 6-14.
In a closely contested first game, Lee Zii Jia put together a late surge to lead 19-17, coinverting his first game point after 18 minutes
Visibly upbeat, Lee Zii Jia took control early on in the second game, racing to a 9-4 advantage. But Lin Chun-Yi fought back to level things and even took a 17-15 lead.
The momentum swung back and fourth before Lee earned his first match point at 20-19. He could not seal the deal, and it went to a decider.
Lee’s lack of tournament play showed in the third game. Trailing 6-14, he signaled to the umpire that he could not continue.
After crashing out in the first-round at the All England Open, Lee was out of action for five months due to an ankle injury.
The Paris 2024 Olympic bronze medallist returned at the World Championships but lost his first round match to Republic of Korea’s Jeon Hyeok-jin. The 27-year-old year-old then exited in the first round of last week’s Hong Kong Open and admitted after that he was still trying to rediscover his torinament feeling.
“I hope I can find my own feeling in every game. I think this is very important,” he told “The Star”.