Reigning Olympic gold medallist Viktor Axelsen was knocked out in the first round of the China Open, falling to China’s Lei Lanxi in Changzhou yesterday.
Lanxi, who lost to Axelsen in the Hong Kong Open final just last week, turned the tables with a hard-fought 21-19, 17-21, 21-16 victory at the Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium. The match, which lasted over an hour, saw the 28th-ranked Lanxi claim a significant win against the world No. 2.
Axelsen acknowledged the difficult schedule, having only played Lanxi days before, but credited his opponent for a stellar performance. “He played a fantastic game, so all credit to him. He played way better than I did,” said Axelsen. “We just played each other on Sunday, so it was challenging to come here, especially since I only arrived at 8 p.m. on Tuesday.”
Lanxi will now face Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto in the second round after the latter overcame India’s Kiran George 4-21, 21-10, 23-21 in a close contest.
Axelsen’s early exit comes on the heels of another upset in the tournament, where Malaysia’s world No. 3 Lee Zii Jia suffered a first-round defeat to Japan’s Koki Watanabe, losing 15-21, 2-21 on Tuesday.
In another close encounter, Malaysia’s Leong Jun Hao narrowly missed out on an upset against France’s Toma Popov, eventually losing 25-23, 24-26, 19-21. Popov will next face Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie.
In the mixed doubles, Malaysia’s Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei advanced to the second round after a commanding 21-14, 21-11 win over India’s K. Satish Kumar and V. Aadya. They will meet Indonesia’s Dejan Ferdinansyah and Gloria Widjaja in the next round.
In men’s doubles, Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi staged a comeback to defeat Taiwan’s Lee Jhe-huei and Yang Po-hsuan 13-21, 21-16, 21-15. They are set to face another Taiwanese pair, Lee Fang-chih and Lee Fang-jen, today.
However, it was the end of the road for Malaysia’s Choong Hon Jian and Mohd Haikal Nazri, who were defeated by South Korea’s world No. 3 pair Kang Min-hyuk and Seo Seung-jae, 10-21, 18-21.
