Lin Dan suffers defeat in first round of Malaysia Masters

Two-time Olympic Champion Lin Dan failed to repeat his glory at the Malaysian Open here last year as he was defeated in the first round of the Malaysian Masters on Wednesday.

Returning to the Malaysian capital city after his win at the Malaysian Open last year, Lin Dan was beaten 21-19, 21-18 by Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark despite his effort to close up the game in both sets.

Overall, Chinese shuttlers put up a strong performance in the first round. In the men's singles, Chen Long demolished Son Wan-ho of South Korea 21-16, 21-14 at the Axiata Arena.

Shi Yuqi knocked out Wang Tzu Wei of Chinese Taipei 21-12, 22-20, Lu Guangzu beat Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus of Denmark 21-11, 18-21, 21-16 while their compatriot Huang Yuxiang downed Indonesia's Anthony Sinisuka Ginting 21-16, 22-20.

The world's top women's singles shuttler Chen Yufei took out Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt of Denmark 21-12, 20-22, 21-12 despite the latter's best effort in the second set.

In the mixed doubles, China's world No.1 Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong crushed India's Pranaav Jerry Chopra/Sikki Reddy Nelakurthi 21-10, 21-10 in just 23 minutes. Their teammates Wang Yilyu/Huang Dongping won their match in less than half an hour.

In the men's doubles Han Chengkai/Zhou Haodong rebounded to beat Germany's Jones Ralfy Jansen/ Peter Kaesbauer 15-21, 22-20, 21-14.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)