Malaysia Open: Spotlight on Home Favourite
The return to competition of Lee Zii Jia will be one of the highlights of this week’s PETRONAS Malaysia Open 2026.
· BWF STAFF
The Paris 2024 Olympic bronze medallist endured an injury-hit 2025 season, featuring in just six matches and has not taken to court since the Hong Kong Open in September. Lee will open his campaign on Tuesday against rising Indian youngster Ayush Shetty.
The Malaysian, however, faces a challenging path in a stacked top half of the draw that also features world No.1 Shi Yu Qi, HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2025 champion Christo Popov, Anders Antonsen and Chou Tien Chen.
Several other eyecatching encounters are on the cards, including Antonsen’s clash with Loh Kean Yew, Liang Wei Keng/Wang Chang against former world champions Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi and the mixed doubles showdown between Chen Tang Jie/Toh Ee Wei and Indonesia’s Jafar Hidayatullah/Felisha Pasaribu. Their compatriots Raymond Indra and Nikolaus Joaquin, who impressed by winning the Australian Open two months ago, will be making their Super 1000 debut.