KUALA LUMPUR, June 12 — National professional men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia started his campaign at the 2024 Australian Open Badminton Championship on a positive note by eliminating India’s S. Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian today.

The 26-year-old, however, had to struggle to secure his spot in the second round, taking one hour and four minutes to defeat Sankar Muthusamy 21-16, 18-21, 21-10 in the match held at Sydney Olympic Park.

Zii Jia is next scheduled to meet compatriot Soong Joo Ven, who overcame Canadian challenger Victor Lai 21-16, 21-16 in another first-round match today.

National women’s singles player, K. Letshanaa also advanced to the second round after an easy victory over host shuttler Ira Sameer Acharya 21-6, 21-5.

Letshanaa will face Taiwan’s Pai Yu Po in the second round. The Taiwanese defeated India’s Imad Farooqui Samiya 23-21, 13-21, 24-22 in the first round.

Meanwhile, mixed doubles pair Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing also secured a spot in the second round after brushing aside host pair Ephraim Stephen Sam-Dania Nugroho 21-13, 21-13.

The fifth-seeded pair of the tournament are scheduled to face a tough challenge against the tournament’s top seeds from China, Jiang Zheng Bang-Wei Ya Xin, in the second round.

Other results (Note: Malaysian unless stated):

Women’s Singles:

Anupama Upadhyaya (INA) bt Wong Ling Ching 21-12, 21-16

Mixed Doubles:

Yap Roy King-Valeree Siow bt Vicent Lawrencio-Louisa Ma (AUS) 21-4, 21-5

Kona Tarun- Sri Krishna Priya Kudaravalli (IND) bt Hoo Pang Ron-Cheng Su Yin 21-6, 21-11

[8] Reddy B. Sumeeth- Reddy Sikki (IND) bt Wong Tien Ci- Lim Chiew Sien 21-17, 21-19

Choong Hon Jian-Go Pei Kee bt [4] Rehan Naufal Kusharjanto-Lisa Ayu Kusumawati (INA) 21-24, 21-17, 21-14

Men’s Doubles:

Keane Chok Ken Wei- Andy Yew Tung Kok bt Pit Seng Low-Toby Wong (AUS) 21-8, 21-12 — Bernama