National badminton icon Lee Chong Wei stumbled – hard – on his path back to global domination when he lost to a little-known Indian player in the first round of the All-England in Birmingham yesterday.
Lee, a three-time All-England champion and currently sitting at the #2 spot in the world badminton rankings, went down 22-24, 20-22 to India’s B Sai Praneeth.
Malaysia’s best was leading 15-7 in the first game and 16-10 in the second, but the 23-year old Praneeth rallied to win the match – his best ever career showing.
Praneeth is currently the world’s #37 player.
The Star Online reports that this is Lee’s second low-round loss in a row, after losing to Hong Kong’s Wei Nan at last October’s Denmark Open.
