KUALA LUMPUR: The national shuttlers, including Lee Zii Jia, should capitalise on the absence of several top players from the upcoming Malaysia Masters on May 21-26.
On Tuesday, citing the Badminton World Federation (BWF) as a source, Indonesian social media account Badminton Talk confirmed that all Indonesian men's singles players have withdrawn from the Thailand Open on May 14-19.
Badminton Talk also shared that world No. 3 Jonatan Christie and world No. 7 Anthony Sinisuka Ginting have withdrawn from the Malaysia Masters.
It is learned that due to tight scheduling and the Paris Olympics looming, most top players will be more selective with their tournaments.
It is also worth noting that Indonesia had played in the recent Thomas Cup final in Chengdu, where they lost 3-1 to host China.
Given the absence of Jonatan and Anthony, world No. 10 Lee Zii Jia, who was initially seeded eighth for the Malaysia Masters, will move up a few spots on the seedings list.
The final seedings list and the draw will be published one week before the tournament.
Earlier, Timesport reported that due to many withdrawals for this year's Malaysia Masters, it is the best chance for local players to be crowned champions in a World Tour (Super 500 and above) tournament on home soil, for the first time since 2018.
The last a Malaysian tasted glory in front of the home fans was Lee Chong Wei, when he won the 2018 Malaysia Open.