KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 7— A first-round victory at the Malaysia Open 2026 has provided a timely confidence boost to national men’s singles shuttler Leong Jun Hao to continue his campaign before home fans at Axiata Arena here, today.

Leong, 26, admitted that his straight-sets win over China’s Wang Zheng Xing, 21-17, 21-17 was far from straightforward with the Malaysian having to dig deep especially in the latter stages to seal the match.