KUALA LUMPUR: Lee Zii Jia will continue his bid to find form at the Indonesia Masters starting Wednesday, but BA of Malaysia (BAM) shuttler Leong Jun Hao has pulled out of the Super 500 event due to influenza.
Zii Jia, who recently returned at the Malaysia Open after a lengthy back injury layoff, is looking to break a string of opening-round exits following early defeats in Kuala Lumpur and at last week's India Open.
Ranked world No. 119, Zii Jia faces world No. 9 H.S. Prannoy of India in the first round.
The Malaysian trails their head-to-head record 2-1.
National singles coaching director Kenneth Jonassen confirmed Jun Hao's withdrawal from the Jakarta tournament.
"Jun Hao was down with influenza and unfortunately didn't recover in time to prepare thoroughly for the event. Therefore, we decided to pull him out," said Jonassen.
Meanwhile, world No. 39 Justin Hoh is hoping to leverage recent training sessions with Danish star Anders Antonsen to secure a better result in Jakarta.
Justin, who fell in the first round of the India Open, faces China's world No. 29 Wang Zheng Xing.
The Malaysian leads their head-to-head 1-0.
"Antonsen played match practice sessions with Justin and Eogene Ewe. He did exercises and played shorter games with most of our junior and senior players," said Jonassen.
Antonsen remained in Kuala Lumpur to train at the Academy Badminton Malaysia after withdrawing from the India Open.
The men's singles draw has opened up further following the withdrawals of Thailand's world No. 2 Kunlavut Vitidsarn and Indonesia's world No. 4 Jonatan Christie.
In the women's singles, world No. 42 K. Letshanaa begins her 2026 season against Taiwan's Wen Chi Hsu, while Wong Ling Ching (No. 43) enters the qualifying round against Japan's Kaoru Sugiyama.
The tournament also saw the withdrawal of men's doubles pair Wan Arif Junaidi-Yap Roy King due to the latter's ankle injury, as well as top-seeded mixed doubles pair Feng Yan Zhe-Huang Dong Ping.
