KUALA LUMPUR, May 29 — National men’s singles professional player Lee Zii Jia has withdrawn from the 2024 Singapore Open due to hamstring injuries suffered after participating in two consecutive tournaments, namely the 2024 Thailand Open and the 2024 Malaysian Masters.

The withdrawal of the world number nine saw defending champion Anthony Sinisuka Ginting from Indonesia, who was expected to face Zii Jia in the first round today, given a free ride to advance to the second round, tomorrow to meet another national men’s singles player, Leong Jun Hao.

Team LZJ in a statement on the X today said the difficult decision was made after receiving medical advice not to participate in the Super 750 championship in Singapore, to focus on the recovery.

"It is a difficult decision to concede a walkover at the Singapore Open, but after a medical assessment in Singapore, Zii Jia was advised not to participate due to hamstring injuries sustained during the Thailand Open and Malaysia Masters,” according to the statement.

The Thailand Open took place on May 14-19 followed by the Malaysian Masters on May 21-26 while the Singapore Open which opened yesterday (May 28) will run until June 2.

Meanwhile, the national mixed doubles Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie only took 33 minutes to defeat B. Sumeeth Reddy-Sikki Reddy from India, 21-18 and 21-19.

The newly crowned Malaysian Masters 2024 champions on Sunday (May 26) will next meet world number one, Zheng Si Wei-Huang Ya Qiong of China in the second round, tomorrow.

According to the record of previous meetings, Soon Huat-Shevon has been defeated 11 times by the pair, namely in Indonesia Masters 2018, World Tour Final 2018, Indonesia Masters 2019, French Open 2019 and Fuzhou China Open 2019.

They were also defeated at the Malaysian Masters 2020, Malaysian Masters 2022, Denmark Open 2022, Malaysia Open 2023, India Open 2023 and the Dubai Asia Badminton Championship 2023. — Bernama