ODENSE: Professional shuttler Lee Zii Jia has withdrawn from the Denmark Open starting Tuesday (Oct 15).
World No. 5 Zii Jia, who reached the final last year, is down with an ankle injury, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) said.
He aggravated the injury during the quarter-final match against Koki Watanabe of Japan in the Arctic Open last week.
Zii Jia was supposed to play Kenta Nishimoto of Japan in the first round in Odense and in his absence, eighth seed Anthony Ginting of Indonesia has been moved to his spot under the seed withdrawal movement.
In the mixed doubles, Malaysia's Yap Roy King-Valeree Siow have also pulled out.
Another big name that will be missing in the World Tour 750 tournament are men's doubles world champions Kang Min-hyuk-Seo Seung-jae of South Korea.