Chinese shuttlers staged a strong comeback on the second day of the Super 1000 Malaysia Open in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.

Reigning women's singles Olympic champion Chen Yufei crushed Japan's Okuhara Nozomi 21-9, 21-17 in a 34-minute match while Wang Zhiyi beat her compatriot Zhang Yiman 21-16, 21-10.

Men's singles player Zhao Junpeng bested his countryman Lu Guangzu 21-17, 21-16 while his compatriot Li Shifeng was beaten by Singapore's Loh Kean Yew 21-19, 23-21 at the Axiata Arena.

Malaysia's badminton world number two Lee Zii Jia lost in front of a vocal home crowd in a three-game marathon to Japan's Naraoka Kodai 21-13, 17-21, 19-21.

In men's doubles, the Chinese pair of Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang outplayed local favorites Goh Sze Fei/Nur Izzuddin Rumsani 16-21, 21-11, 21-17, while Liu Yuchen/Ou Xuanyi of China scored a 21-19, 24-22 victory against Ben Lane/Sean Vendy of England.

In women's doubles, Zhang Shuxian/Zheng Yu of China came out on top against Japan's Fukushima Yuki/Hirota Sayaka 21-15, 19-21, 21-16, while Li Wenmei/Liu Xuanxuan steamrolled over Ng Tsz Yau/Tsang Hiu Yan 21-7, 21-11. Du Yue/Xia Yuting beat Lee So-hee/Shin Seung-chan of South Korea 21-19, 22-20.

Earlier, Shi Yuqi crashed out of the event in the opening round after losing to Chou Tien-chen of Chinese Taipei  21-23, 24-22, 21-18 in the men's singles despite a strong effort, while his teammate Weng Hongyang was beaten 8-21, 22-20, 21-19 by Denmark's Anders Antonsen.

Similarly, women's singles player He Bingjiao failed to overcome Indonesia's Gregoria Mariska Tunjung and both men's doubles pairs Tan Qiang/Ren Xiangyu and He Jiting/Zhou Haodong were knocked out.

The Malaysia Open will run till January 15.

(With input from Xinhua)