The Malaysian Open was once again full of thrills and spills and no shortage of drama including a leaking roof which threatened to derail the event but was thankfully rectified quickly.
Here are the five main talking points from the season opener:
Shocking win: Hong Kong’s Lee Cheuk Yiu shaking hands with Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen.
Fall of giants
Denmark’s two-time Olympic Games champion Viktor Axelsen and reigning All-England winner Jonatan Christie of Indonesia suffered shock first round exits. Axelsen was not at his best and lost to world No. 21 Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong. The Dane, who dropped from No. 1 to No. 4 in the world last year, has been struggling with a leg injury and withdrew from the World Tour Finals last month. World No. 3 Jonatan went down to spirited Frenchman Toma Junior Popov (No. 19) in three games.
Pleasant surprise: South Korea’s Kim Won-ho (right) and Seo Seung-jae celebrate after winning the men’s doubles final. — AFP
Surprise winners
New pairs grabbed the headlines with Seo Seung-jae-Kim Won-ho of South Korea (men’s doubles), Yuki Fukushima-Mayu Matsumoto (women’s doubles) and Thailand’s Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Supissara Paewsampran (mixed doubles) winning. Seung-jae-Won-ho even stunned world No. 2 Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang of China and Asian Games champions Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty of India in only their first tournament together. Seung-jae proved his amazing versatility as he captured the world title with Kang Min-hyuk in 2023 and won the China Masters with Jin Yong.
Going steady: Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi prove they are still in the reckoning after reaching the quarter-finals. — FAIHAN GHANI/The Star
Oldies shine
Old hands Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi proved that they still packed plenty of punch when they reached the quarter-finals. Yew Sin and Ee Yi in their early 30s upstaged world No. 4 Fajar Alfian-Rian Ardianto of Indonesia in the first round and knocked out new combination Kang Min-hyuk-Jin Hong of South Korea.
The world No. 24 pair went down fighting to Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty of India in the last eight but can stand tall for their encouraging performance.
Into the limelight: Largely unknown Thailand’s Pornpicha Choeikeewong lost to China’s Wang Zhiyi in the semi-finals. — AFP
New star
Pornpicha Choeikeewong is not as well known as Ratchanok Intanon but made heads turn when she joined the latter in the last four against all odds. The 21-year-old’s best performance came in the last eight when she sent China’s world No. 5 Han Yue packing. World No. 44 Pornpicha lost to Chinese Wang Zhiyi in the semi-finals but announced herself on the big stage in style. A bright future awaits the youngster as she showed that she could take over from the 29-year-old Ratchanok one day.
Embarrassing: The match between Malaysia’s Go Pei Kee---Teoh Mei Xing and China’s Jia Yifan-Zhang Shuxian was stopped due to a water leakage issue. — FAIHAN GHANI/The Star
Roof shocker
A leaking roof at the Axiata Arena dampened the competition on the opening day. Due to heavy downpour, the roof started leaking in two courts and matches were delayed. Some matches had to be played until late at night while others were brought forward to the next day. Despite apologies and promises to review the incident by the Malaysian Stadium Corporation (MSC), it has raised doubts over the venue’s suitability to host such a big tournament.
