Zii Jia spurred on by All England success

Kuala Lumpur: National singles badminton ace Lee Zii Jia believes that his All England triumph in March will spur him to achieve greater success in this month’s Tokyo Olympics.

Zii Jia said he was still buzzing from his thrilling 30-29, 20-22, 21-9 victory over world number two Viktor Axelsen of Denmark in the final in Birmingham.

“I am still on a high after winning the All England title and I hope to maintain that confidence and get good results in the Tokyo Olympics,” he told a virtual press conference, Monday.

With the draw for the Tokyo Olympics set to be held on Thursday, the current world number eight said he was ready to face any player as his aim was to enjoy his first Olympics without any pressure when the action begins at the Musashino Forest Sports Plaza.

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Asked about the possibility of facing China’s players, namely reigning Olympics gold medallist Chen Long and Shi Yu Qi, in Tokyo, the 23-year-old said although he is looking forward to meeting them at the Games, he is worried too as he has no idea about their current form since both the shuttlers have not competed in any tournaments since last year’s All England.

The Kedahan had beaten both of them at the quarter-final stage when he last met them last year. He defeated Cheng Long 21-12, 21-18 in the All England 2020 and Yu Qi 12-21, 21-16, 21-19 in the Malaysia Masters 2020.

Zii Jia is also pleased with the progress he has made in sparring with professional player Liew Daren at the Akademi Badminton Malaysia in Bukit Kiara, here, adding that the latter had helped him tremendously to prepare for the Olympics.

Meanwhile, Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) coaching director Wong Choong Hann hoped that the players, having gone through rigorous training sessions, would be able to win as many medals as possible at the Tokyo Olympics.

“Our preparation is coming along well and, most importantly, there are no injuries so far. We want the players to perform at their level best… of course, we would like to get the best colour of medals,” he said.

Choong Hann explained that the national shuttlers are scheduled to leave for Tokyo on July 17 and check into the Games Village on July 18 before starting their training on July 19 in preparation for the competition, which will kick off on July 24.

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The 44-year-old former national shuttler also does not expect the organisers to implement too many changes to the current standard operating procedure for the Games despite the fact that Japan had experienced a spike in Covid-19 cases lately.

Zii Jia will have seven other shuttlers for company at the Tokyo Olympics, namely Soniia Cheah (women’s singles); Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik (men’s doubles); Chow Mei Kuan-Lee Meng Yean (women’s doubles); and Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying (mixed doubles).

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