Roof leaks at Malaysia Open 2025, HS Prannoy vs Brian Yang match halted

Prannoy had secured the first game 21-12 when the halt arrived at Malaysia Open 2025.

H.S. Prannoy’s opening match at the Malaysia Open 2025 was unexpectedly halted due to a leaking roof of the Axiata Arena on Court 3, where the Indian shuttler made an impressive start against Canada’s Brian Yang.

HS Prannoy currently ranked 26th in the world, had won the first game 21-12 and was leading 6-3 in the second when water started seeping on Court 3. The leak created dangerous playing conditions, particularly in the front left court near the net where water started pooling.

The situation worsened when large water stains formed in the backhand area, causing Prannoy’s coach Gurusaidutt to worry about the player’s safety and after initial attempts to address the issue, tournament officials suspended play.

To make the matter clear this is Prannoy’s first outing at the court since Paris Olympics where he went down against his compatriot Lakshya Sen in straight sets in the quarterfinals.

Terbuka Malaysia 2025: Situasi tidak dijangka di Axiata Arena! Bumbung bocor menyebabkan perlawanan di gelanggang 2 & 3 terpaksa ditangguhkan. Para peminat diminta bersabar sementara pihak pengurusan mengatasi masalah ini. 🙏🏻🏸#AxiataArena #Badminton@ASTROARENA pic.twitter.com/gYEqJUshlC

— ZAKI ZAINAL (@_ZakiZainal) January 7, 2025

Court 2 suffered a similar fate when the women’s doubles match between China’s Jia Yifan-Zhang Shuxian and Malaysia’s Teoh Mei Xing-Go Pei Kee was halted at 11-10 when water began dripping onto the playing surface.

While other courts suffered from similar issues, Only Court 1 remained operational, where earlier in the day, India’s Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand secured a commanding 21-10, 21-10 victory over Thailand’s Ornnicha Jongsathapornparn and Sukitta Suwachai.

Roof leakage represents yet another infrastructure challenge for Malaysian badminton, a sequel to similar incidents from the 2022 Malaysia Open when the matches were delayed due to power outages at Axiata Arena.

Now coming to the pending matches, Tournament officials are yet to announce when play will resume on the affected courts. The delay could impact the tournament schedule and with multiple matches still pending in the opening round of this World Tour Super 1000 event.

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