Lee Zii Jia suffered a shocking 20-22, 10-21 defeat against an Israeli opponent to crash out of the Thailand Open first round on Wednesday.

World number 60 Daniil Dubovenko may be higher ranked than Lee, but the Israeli shuttler himself wouldn't have thought he stood a chance against the former world number two.

Lee, after all, has shown significant improvement in his performance and was coming into this tournament off a successful Thomas Cup where he won all his matches.

But, having played back-to-back matches in the qualifiers on Tuesday to reach the main draw, the Malaysian put on a laboured performance against Dubovenko.

After surrendering a close first game, Lee completely lost his way in the second game and exited after 38-minutes.

This defeat will come as a setback for the tournament's two-time winner, who won in 2022 & 2024.

Lee's 67 world ranking also means he will miss out on competing in several top-tier events including next week's Malaysia Masters, Singapore Open and Indonesia Open.

The independent player will most likely aim to return to World Tour action at the Australian Open (June 9-14).