Badminton

BAM dropout Jacky storms into Thailand Masters main draw

KUALA LUMPUR: Shuttler Jacky Kok stormed into the men's singles main draw of the Thailand Masters after battling through two qualifying rounds on Tuesday.

World No. 101 Jacky overcame local shuttlers Puritat Arree (17-21, 21-11, 22-20) and Korakrit Laotrakul (21-16, 21-17) at the Nimibutr Stadium in Bangkok to advance.

The 23-year-old, once dubbed the "next Lee Chong Wei," will face India's world No. 46 Ayush Shetty in the first round of the Super 300 tournament on Wednesday.

Jacky's career, which showed early promise, was derailed by injuries, leading to his exit from the national team last year.

He was part of Malaysia's gold medal-winning squad at the 2022 Asia Team Championships and also claimed the Swedish Open title the same year.

Meanwhile, it was the end of the road for Eogene Ewe, who fell to Indonesia's Moh Zaki Ubaidillah (21-11, 21-11). Earlier, world No. 102 Eogene defeated South Korea's Cho Geon Yeop 22-20, 15-21, 21-17.

World No. 90 Tan Jia Jie also bowed out, losing his opening match to Taiwan's Liao Jhuo Fu (22-20, 12-21, 10-21).

In the women's singles, former national player Loh Zhi Wei narrowly missed out on the main draw after a hard-fought 11-21, 21-17, 14-21 defeat to Taiwan's Hsieh Yi En.

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