Lee Zii Jia falls to Naraoka in Hylo Open second round as Malaysian pairs march on

Fresh from his recent Thailand Open win, world number 10 Lee Zii Jia said that he was highly motivated to take on other top-ranked players, including world number one, Viktor Axelsen and Anders Antonsen (world no 4) of Denmark, Li Shi Feng (world no 6) of China to get a good idea of his current performance. — AFP pic

First Published: Friday, 30 Oct 2026 11:00 AM MYT

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 30 — Professional men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia bowed out from the second round of the Hylo Open 2026 at the hands of Japanese shuttler Kodai Naraoka in Saarbrucken, Germany, today.

Zii Jia, the current world No. 42, went down fighting against the world No. 9 and fifth seed, 11-21, 21-13, 14-21 in 63 minutes during the Super 500 tournament held in Saarlandhalle.

Today’s result sees Naraoka lead the head-to-head record against Zii Jia to 4-3.

National women’s doubles Ong Xin Yee-Carmen Ting endured a similar fate as they succumbed to eighth seeds Yeung Nga Ting-Yeung Pui Lam of Hong Kong, 16-21, 21-11, 20-22.

However, professional mixed doubles pair Hoo Pang Ron-Lai Pei Jing brought cheers to the Malaysian camp as they checked into the quarter-finals, to be held tomorrow.

Pang Ron-Pei Jing pulled off an impressive 21-9, 21-16 victory in 25 minutes over fourth seeds Yang Po-Hsuan-Hu Ling Fang of Taiwan.

They will next face Hong Kong’s seventh seeds Chan Yin Chak-Ng Tsz Yau, who defeated Taiwan’s Wei Hsuan-Yi-Yang Chu Yu 20-22, 21-18, 21-19.

Joining Pang Ron-Pei Jing in the next round are national men’s doubles pair Aaron Tai-Yap Roy King who pulled off an upset over top seeds from Indonesia, Sabar Karyaman Gutama-Moh Reza Pahlevi Isfahani, 22-20, 21-19.

The unseeded Aaron-Roy King will next take on either the fifth seeds from Taiwan, Chiu Hsiang Chieh-Wang Chi-Lin, or the French duo Natan Begga-Gregoire Deschamp.

The Hylo Open 2026 offers a total prize pool of USD500,000 (about RM2.03 million). — Bernama