The 24-year-old, ranked 4th in the world, took just 33 minutes to sweep aside the Thai ace at the Birmingham Arena today.

Zii Jia, the 2021 All England champion, will face either Kenta Nishimoto from Japan or Canada’s Brian Yang in the second round tomorrow.

Since winning the Thailand Open in May last year, Zii Jia has not won a title, or moved past the second round.

Zii Jia began the 2023 season without qualifying for the quarterfinals of the four tournaments he participated in when he was eliminated in the first round in the Malaysia Open, followed by the second round in the India Open, Indonesia Masters and the German Open last week.

Meanwhile, national men’s top doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik were shown the exit by non-seeded Indonesian pair Leo Rolly Carnando-Daniel Marthin, 18-21, 21-14, 13-21 in a battle lasting 60 minutes.