KUALA LUMPUR – The past couple of weeks have been an exciting time for the local badminton scene.
The nation was enthralled by professional men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia’s performance at the recent, and his fourth, All England Championships.
Since the start of the season, the world No. 4 shuttler had been struggling to get past the opening rounds of every BWF World Tour tournament.
It started with the first-round exit at the Super 1000 Malaysia Open and was followed by second-round exits at the India, Indonesia, and German Opens.
However, when Zii Jia managed to book his spot in the All England semi-finals, his fans were hopeful that the 25-year-old Kedahan might have begun to recover his rhythm.
Men’s singles badminton legend Roslin Hashim told The Vibes that although Zii Jia did not manage to reclaim the title that he won in 2021, after losing to China’s Shi Yu Qi, it was enough for Zii Jia to prove to the world that he still has what it takes to take down some of the world’s best players.
After the All England Championships, the Kedah-born independent shuttler lost in the Super 300 Swiss Open semi-finals to Japan’s Koki Watanabe.
Roslin, who is the former world No. 1 player, described Zii Jia as a unique player with much potential.
“He has his ups and downs, but those who have been following his tournaments from the beginning would know what he is capable of.
“He is aggressive on the court, which means he plays mostly on the attacking side.
“He also has an additional advantage for his height and physical strength,” he said.
The reigning Asian champion was not the only one making headlines recently as his former teammate Ng Tze Yong also surprised fans with his stunning performance at his All England debut.
The 22-year-old athlete shocked the nation when he defeated world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark in the second round, although he crashed out in the quarter-finals to China’s Li Shi Feng.
Following the Super 1000 tournament, Tze Yong climbed two spots to No. 26 on March 20.
If he keeps up with the steady upward form, he would likely reach his target of breaking into the top 16 and qualifying for the 2024 Olympic Games.
Roslin, who is also a member of Akademi Badminton Malaysia’s Technical Advisory Panel, said with such positive development, he advised Tze Yong to be ready to face a different set of challenges.
“During the All England (Championships), we could see that he could catch up to Axelsen’s style of play, which was physically straining,” he said.
“Question is now, what can he do to maintain that form moving forward, especially in a back-to-back tournament?
“This is important for Tze Yong and his coaches to figure out, including training format, because as he gets into more high-level tournaments, he would not be able to escape from being drawn with the top players in the world.”
Roslin added that beating Axelsen, who is the reigning world and Olympic champion, would only place Tze Yong at the centre of attention among his rivals.
As such, the Commonwealth Games silver medallist would need to keep learning new tactics to fight on the court.
“Undoubtedly, this is a good experience for him,” Roslin added.
“I hope Tze Yong would not give up. Instead, keep working on improving his physical fitness as it only gets tougher after this.”
As qualifying for the 2024 Olympic Games inches closer, starting May 1, Roslin hopes that both Tze Yong and Zii Jia would leverage their strengths and current form to do well.
“On paper, Zii Jia would be the best player to represent the country (in the Olympics). Plus, we have no other capable athlete in the men’s singles sector other than him and Tze Yong.
“Although Zii Jia has already competed at the Olympics before, surely he would want to try again.
“So, I think it would be a shame if he does not take advantage of this. We only have one year till the big day and that is not much time left to prepare,” he added. – The Vibes, March 28, 2023
