KUALA LUMPUR - The All England 2021 tournament, which will kick off next Wednesday, will be the best chance for national men’s singles player, Lee Zii Jia, to rebound after a series of underwhelming results in recent outings.
Malaysian badminton great Datuk Lee Chong Wei pointed out that Zii Jia must quickly get over the disappointment since earlier this year, by regaining his rhythm when he steps into the badminton court at the Utilita Arena Birmingham in Birmingham, England soon.
Lee said it is vital for the current national top singles shuttler to get his rhythm back in the world’s oldest tournament, as this could be a stepping stone for Zii Jia to fly high in the coming tournaments, including Tokyo Olympics, should he managed to get a slot to Japan come July.
“I understand that he’s having a dip in his form right now, it’s not easy because I’ve been there and done that before...I have experienced losing confidence for few outings before I managed to find my way to overcome the pressure and regained form.
“I hope he can learn how to lift the weight off his shoulders,” the four-time All England champion told Bernama today.
The world number three had endured a bad start in 2021 when he lost in the quarter-finals of the Yonex Thailand Open to second seed Chou Tien Chen of Taiwan before crashing out in the first round at the hands of India’s Sameer Verman in the Toyota Thailand Open back in January
Zii Jia’s poor showing continued when he lost all his three matches in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Finals, also in Bangkok in the same month before being shown the exit by eighth seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand 18-21, 10-21 at the 2021 Swiss Open, last Saturday.
The sixth seed of the All England 2021 is set to open his campaign against Canadian shuttler, Brian Yang in the tournament that will be held from March 17-21.
The three-time Olympics silver medallist also urged fans to be realistic and give Zii Jia, the 22-year-old Alor Setar lad, more time to justify his worth as he still has a long way to go in badminton.
Meanwhile, Lee had warned other national players not to take on the challenge in Birmingham lightly despite not offering any valuable points for Tokyo Olympics qualification.
“It is not easy to play in All England as it assembles a lot of top players to compete in this tournament,” he added. - Bernama, 12 March, 2021
