Fuzhou: World No. 1 Kento Momota has been receiving unusual gifts from his Malaysian opponents in the first two round of Fuzhou China Open as Daren Liew retired after losing to Momota 21-17 in the first set on Wednesday while Lee Zii Jia also conceded the second round match on Thursday, after going down in the first game 21-9 before finally quitting the match at 3-11 in the second set.
The match was Momota’s fourth win against Lee in 2019, and his fifth career win over Lee.
Lee told reporters that he didn’t sustain any injuries during the match, he was just not feeling well and was unable to finish the match.
“I already felt uncomfortable in the middle of the night. I was not able to eat anything this morning. I am really weak right now. I didn’t want to play, but I ended up playing anyway, unfortunately I couldn’t finish the game,” said Lee.
Momota will play Viktor Axelsen of Denmark next. Axelsen defeated Parupalli Kashyap of India 21-13, 21-19.
The men’s singles second round action also saw Chen Long who defeated Lin Dan in the first round, was sent packing by compatriot Lu Guangzu 10-21, 21-10, 13-21. The 30-year-old Chen Long suddenly lost his focus when he was leading 11-10 after the mid-game interval, and lost nine straight points to the 23-year-old Lu in 48 minutes.
“I was playing with no pressure, and was trying to score one point at a time,” said Lu who will meet Chou Tien Chen of Taiwan next.
In women’s singles, No. 1 seed Tai Tzu Ying of Taiwan saw off Gregoria Mariska Tunjung of Indonesia to 21-19, 21-17 to set up quarter-final meeting with Kim Ga Eun of Korea on Friday.
Meanwhile, Soniia Cheah of Malaysia couldn’t catch up with Michelle Li of Canada by losing the second round match 14-21, 10-21. Li will face Busanan Ongbamrungphan of Thailand in the last eight.
