Thailand Open: New Opponent Awaits Lee
Malaysian No.1 Lee Zii Jia will play Lei Lan Xi of China in the first round of the TOYOTA Thailand Open 2024.
· BWF STAFF
The sixth seed took the place of Lei’s compatriot Li Shi Feng under the new draw management regulations coming into force this week which says a third seed who withdraws before the end of the team managers’ meeting shall be replaced by anyone seeded fifth to eighth in the same quarter.
Lee, champion in 2022, was initially drawn to play local hope Kantaphon Wangcharoen before Li became one of three men’s singles shuttlers to withdraw from the main draw. Wangcharoen will now need to tackle another Seed Withdrawal Move (SWM) in Lu Guang Zu.
Lee has only faced Lei once; he won the encounter in straight games at the Asia Mixed Team Championships last year.