Kumamoto Masters 2026: Lee Zii Jia Crash Out in Qualify, Pearly-Thinaah early exit

Malaysia had a bruising start to the Kumamoto Masters Japan on Tuesday, 10 November 2026, as three of its biggest names went out on the opening day of the Super 500 tournament. Third seeds Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik retired just six minutes into their first-round match against India's Hariharan Amsakarunan and M.R. Arjun.

They were trailing 6-11 in the first game when Wooi Yik's right heel injury flared up again. Second seeds Pearly Tan and M. Thinaah lost 21-18, 13-21, 14-21 to home pair Ririna Hiramoto and Chiharu Shida. Lee Zii Jia failed to get through qualifying after losing 15-21, 10-21 to Japan's Minoru Koga. Seven Malaysian entries played at the Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium on Tuesday, and three of them won. Fourth seeds Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin reached the last 16 of the men's doubles, and so did Aaron Tai and Yap Roy King. Chia Wei Jie and Teo Ee Yi won their qualifying match.

The heaviest blow was Aaron-Wooi Yik's retirement. The former world champions are Malaysia's No. 1 men's doubles pair, and Kumamoto was supposed to mark their return to competition. Men's doubles coach Chang Kim Wai is with the pair in Japan. He confirmed that it was the same right heel injury Wooi Yik suffered at the French Open last month. That injury forced the pair to retire from their quarter-final there. It then kept them out of the Hylo Open and the Korea Open while Wooi Yik took more time to recover. Their comeback lasted six minutes.

The timing could hardly be worse. Kumamoto and next week's Hong Kong Open are the last two tournaments offering qualifying points for the BWF World Tour Finals, which will be held in Hangzhou, China, from 9 to 13 December. Kosmo reported that Aaron-Wooi Yik haven't yet secured their place in Hangzhou. Utusan said Hong Kong is now their only remaining chance to add points. The season-ending event offers US$3.5 million (about RM14.26 million) in total prize money. The New Straits Times noted last week that the pair are also trying to end a title drought. After Tuesday's retirement, it isn't clear whether they'll play in Hong Kong at all.

There are two ways to look at the decision to play in Kumamoto. Sitting out would have left everything riding on Hong Kong. Before the tournament, the NST said that if the pair withdrew from Kumamoto, they would need a deep run in Hong Kong to stand a fighting chance of qualifying. Playing in Kumamoto gave them two chances instead of one. However, the heel had already forced one retirement and two withdrawals. Coming back with what the NST called "lingering injury concerns" risked exactly the setback that happened on Tuesday. The NST said the return "appears to have backfired, leaving their season hanging in the balance". If Wooi Yik isn't fit for Hong Kong, Kumamoto will have been their last chance to earn qualifying points.

Pearly-Thinaah's exit was a different kind of shock, because they were a game up. The second seeds took the first game 21-18. Kosmo reported that Hiramoto-Shida again made the stronger start in the second game and raced into a 14-7 lead. The Malaysians tried to fight back and avoid a deciding game, but they lost the second 13-21. In the third, the Japanese pair built another big lead and, playing without pressure, closed out a 21-14 win. After winning the first game, Pearly-Thinaah were outscored 42-27 over the last two.

The defeat also brought back an unhappy memory for the Malaysians. Shida was partnering Nami Matsuyama when she beat Pearly-Thinaah in the bronze-medal match at the Paris 2024 Olympics. Losing in the first round also costs a second seed the bigger ranking points that come with the later rounds.

Zii Jia's exit came even earlier, in the first round of qualifying. The independent shuttler beat Koga in qualifying at the Swiss Open in March, but this time the Japanese player won comfortably, 21-15, 21-10. Zii Jia won only 25 points in the match and just 10 in the second game, so the gap grew as the match went on. A player of his standing rarely has to start in qualifying at a Super 500 event. Losing there means he leaves Kumamoto without playing in the main draw.

The good news came from the men's doubles. Sze Fei-Izzuddin did their job as fourth seeds, beating Denmark's Christian Faust Kjær and Rasmus Kjær 21-15, 21-16 to reach the last 16. With Aaron-Wooi Yik out, they're now the highest-seeded Malaysian men's doubles pair left in the draw. Aaron Tai-Roy King produced the most one-sided Malaysian win of the day, beating Japan's Kakeru Kumagai and Hiroki Nishi 21-8, 21-14. They conceded only eight points in the first game and 22 in the whole match. In qualifying, Wei Jie-Ee Yi beat China's Lin Xiang Yi and Zeng Wei Han 21-15, 21-18.

The closest Malaysian match of the day ended in defeat. Azriyn Ayub and Tan Wee Kiong lost the first game 16-21 to Denmark's Daniel Lundgaard and Mads Vestergaard. They levelled the match by taking the second 21-16, and the decider went to 20-all. The Danes then won the last two points to take it 22-20. Across the three games, the Malaysians won 57 points to the Danes' 59, so the match could easily have gone the other way.

The day showed both sides of Malaysian badminton. Three of the five Malaysian men's doubles pairs in action won, all in straight games, and Azriyn-Wee Kiong's defeat came down to the final two points. Sze Fei-Izzuddin and Aaron Tai-Roy King both reached the last 16 without dropping a game. However, all three of the country's highest-profile entries went out. They were also Malaysia's three semi-finalists at the Paris 2024 Olympics, where Aaron-Wooi Yik and Zii Jia won bronze and Pearly-Thinaah finished fourth. Only one of those defeats was down to injury. Pearly-Thinaah lost after winning the first game, and Zii Jia lost heavily to a player he'd beaten earlier in the year. Malaysia played three matches against Japanese opponents and won only one, Aaron Tai-Roy King's.

Of the seven Malaysian entries who played on Tuesday, only the three men's doubles winners are still in the tournament, which runs until Sunday, 15 November. Sze Fei-Izzuddin and Aaron Tai-Roy King will look to build on their straight-games wins in the last 16. The bigger story, though, is Wooi Yik's heel. Hong Kong is the last chance to earn points before the World Tour Finals, so the next few days will show whether he can recover in time to give the pair a chance of reaching Hangzhou. Tuesday showed that Malaysia's men's doubles depth remains a real strength. It was also a reminder of how much still depends on the fitness and form of the country's biggest names.

Credit Photo : BERNAMA