KUALA LUMPUR – Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh will soon meet with badminton men’s singles player Lee Zii Jia.
Following Zii Jia’s exit at the German Open second round on Thursday, Yeoh said that she communicated with the world number four shuttler through WhatsApp, asking him for a meeting after he returns from Mulheim.
“I contacted Lee Zii Jia right after his match and said to him ‘do not give up. I will meet you when you come back’, and he said okay.
“I will talk to him about how we can help improve his performance,” she said.
Despite being the tournament’s top seed, Zii Jia lost to unheralded Taiwan’s Lee Chia Hao 21-15, 20-22, 21-23 in 57 minutes.
This loss makes it his sixth consecutive time failing to pass the quarterfinal stage.
Zii Jia was also knocked out in the early rounds of the French Open in October last year, followed by Australia, Malaysia, India Open, and the Indonesia Masters in January.
Meanwhile, seemingly frustrated with his performance Zii Jia took to his social media and posted, “I am f***ing done”.
Yeoh insisted the public give her time to speak with Zii Jia about the matter.
“This is a professional athlete we are talking about, and he is not a young child. We need to give him space.
“Athletes have their ups and downs. I do not want to be in a position to criticise them all the time when they lose.
“Normal people see sports as recreational, but for athletes, it is work. I want to show empathy while helping them improve,” said Yeoh.
With the Olympic qualifications for badminton starting on May 1, there are buzzing questions within the badminton fraternity about whether the 24-year-old Kedahan has what it takes to make it to Paris.
“About Paris 2024, more details will be shared tomorrow at the Road to Gold press conference,” she said when met at the launching of the sports mobile application AFA Superapp today.
Meanwhile, AFA Superapp is a sports community platform that allows users to create and find activities, manage RSVPs in groups, book venues, and pay seamlessly.
Apart from earning loyalty points and redeeming rewards, users can also enjoy deals from partners.
AFA Community chief executive officer Samuel Siew said the application has already garnered more than 150,000 users as of March and booked over 500,000 hours, played across 90 sports venues in 11 states.
They include Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Johor, Melaka, Penang, Terengganu, Kelantan, Perak, Kedah, Sabah and Sarawak. – The Vibes, March 11, 2023
