PETALING JAYA: National men’s singles shuttler Leong Jun Hao suffered his eighth first-round exit of the year after losing to Japan’s Koki Watanabe at the Denmark Open.
The world No 30 made too many unforced errors, particularly in the first game, as he went down 6-21, 19-21 to the world No 16 in 40 minutes.
Jun Hao has not made it past the second round in the 14 tournaments he played this year, with eight of those campaigns ending in the opening round.
Jun Hao, who is currently Malaysia’s top men’s singles player, was warned by the Badminton Association of Malaysia officials earlier this year over some disciplinary incidents.