KUALA LUMPUR: A leaking roof spoiled day one of the Malaysia Open after matches were halted at two of the three courts at the Axiata Stadium in Bukit Jalil today (Jan 7).
A heavy downpour in the afternoon affected the women's doubles match at Court 2 between China's Jia Yi Fan-Zhang Shi Xin and Malaysians Go Pei Kee-Teoh Mei Xing midway through the first game.
The men's singles clash between Brian Yang of Canada and H.S. Prannoy of India also had to be stopped due to the same issue for more than an hour.
The organisers had been trying to fix the leaks to ensure the 12 matches at Court 2 and 3 were completed on schedule.
The Axiata Arena's roof leak was due to ongoing roof replacement work, said Malaysia Stadium Corporation chief executive officer Illyas Jamil.
The roof has been undergoing refurbishment since April last year and it is expected to be completed in April this year.
Ilyas said the heavy rain and winds due to a thunderstorm may have caused water to seep through the roof which ended up on the courts.
"This is the first time this has happened where it affected the court area. The leak has been identified, and we have done repair work to ensure no more water will fall onto the courts," said Ilyas.
"We have covered the area where the leak happened, and we will ensure that there will be no more leaks until this tournament ends."
This has led to the Badminton World Federation (BWF) postponing five matches from Tuesday to the next day.
The five matches, which were supposed to be held at the affected Court 2 and Court 3, will be held together with 44 matches originally scheduled to be held on three courts on Wednesday.
The matches at Court 3 resumed two hours after the leakage while some matches were shifted to centre court (Court 1) which was unaffected by the leakage.
However, the five matches had to be postponed to avoid matches dragging past midnight.