KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia, which has never won a men’s singles title at the Badminton World Championships, is placing its hopes on Lee Zii Jia when he heads to Tokyo this week.
The closest Malaysia has ever gotten to the world championships was three silver medals from badminton legend Datuk Lee Chong Wei in 2011, 2013, and 2015.
He last participated in the championships in 2017 in Glasgow but had a shocking exit in the first round after he lost to French shuttler Brice Leverdez.
The following year, Chong Wei was again pitted against the Frenchman but had to pull out from the Nanjing edition a week before the tournament due to respiratory disease.
Fast forward to 2022, world number five Zii Jia is expected to assume the mantle going up against Chong Wei’s former adversary when he meets Leverdez in the opening round of the tournament to be held in Tokyo on August 22-28.
Speaking to The Vibes, Zii Jia’s sister and manager Lee Zii Yii said they are looking forward to departing to Tokyo on Friday and are preparing for the best possible outcome.
Zii Yii said, however, that it is difficult to predict how opponents would play on the court, saying that they might have improved their form since her brother took part last year.
“Zii Jia has been trying his best to improve his performance.
“He has been training hard with Liew Daren (assistant coach) and a couple of other shuttlers like Ter Chun Long and Tan Choong Yen,” she said.
This would be Zii Jia’s third attempt to win the world title after falling short at the quarterfinals in the 2019 and 2021 editions, where he lost to Japanese Kento Momota and Danish Anders Antonsen, respectively.
Zii Yii acknowledged the difficulty the reigning Asian champion would have to face as many players have improved.
“It is different now because many players have also shown their potential, so it is hard to set any target.
“Even with being the fifth best in the world, it is hard to say if he is 100% ready and prepared to go up against any opponents.
“How to predict (if he could win)? That is the interesting part of the game. People change all the time.
“We just try our best to support him and prepare him mentally and physically,” Zii Yii added. – The Vibes, August 15, 2022
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