Malaysia badminton ace Lee Zii Jia looks for success after turbulence

SINGAPORE – For Malaysian badminton fans starved of success after Lee Chong Wei’s retirement, Lee Zii Jia is their beacon of hope.

Already an All England and Asian Championships winner, he reached a career-high of world No. 2 on Oct 25, 2022.

For naysayers, he is a pretender to the throne, after failing to get past the first two rounds in seven out of nine tournaments in 2023, including the ongoing Singapore Badminton Open as his ranking slipped to 10th.

The real Lee, however, is a passionate man who is finding ways to succeed in the uber-competitive badminton scene.

Soft-spoken and thoughtful during an interview with The Straits Times here, he said: “To become a top player, there will be ups and downs and this is a journey I have to go through.

“The time and path taken to get there differs – some reach the top faster, others take longer.”

Then, with a steely resolve, he added: “I believe after a storm, there will always be a rainbow. Therefore, I persist and persevere.”

For someone who is still only 25, he has been through many storms since his parents introduced him to badminton when he was six.

At 18, he won the boys’ singles bronze at the 2016 World Junior Championships, followed by his first senior title at the Polish Open in 2017.

His upward trajectory continued with the 2018 Chinese Taipei Open and 2019 SEA Games triumphs before the Covid-19 pandemic struck.

When tournaments resumed in 2021, Lee was handed a show cause letter by the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) for his poor start to the year.

In his quest to regain his winning form, he skipped Chinese New Year celebrations in his Alor Setar home town to train on his own at the Akademi Badminton Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur.

His reward was the gleaming All England Open trophy, which brought more sponsorships, as well as scrutiny.

Citing the pressure and “regimented lifestyle”, Lee parted ways with the BAM to play independently in January 2022 and was branded a traitor by some.

He was even suspended from competing for two years, although the ban was quickly reversed.

He told ST: “The good thing about being an independent player is I can be in control of my plans. But the pressure is also greater because I don’t have that shield and support system any more. If anything goes wrong, I will feel the full brunt of the impact now.

“This is a new experience and it is tough and tiring. I’ve been through quite a bit and I’ve learnt a lot.”

While his decision appeared to reap rewards after he won the 2022 Asian Championships title, controversy continues to plague him.

There is the threat of legal action after his former coach Indra Wijaya claimed their November 2022 split constituted unfair dismissal.

In May, Lee’s hiring of compatriot and Hong Kong national men’s singles coach Wong Tat Meng upset Hong Kong player Angus Ng, who was unhappy that the move happened so close to the Asian Games.

When told how his friend and Singapore’s world No. 5 Loh Kean Yew, the 2021 world champion, recently admitted badminton now feels more like work owing to the pressure, Lee laughed and nodded.

He said: “In this era of social media... it is impossible to run away from reading news about yourself.

“Once you have some status and results, you will have to carry the weight of expectations... we have to see how we can embrace it and turn it into motivation.”

The duo have remained friends since they competed on the junior circuit in Malaysia.

He added: “I’m jealous Kean Yew became world champion at such a young age, and he may also covet my All England Open and Asian Championships titles, but to me, the world championships and Olympic gold are the so-called big ones.

“The short-term goals are to stabilise my performances, establish good rapport with my coach and return to the top five. And then, of course, I want to make an impact at the world champs and Olympics.”

He received a boost when he became one of 15 athletes in their government’s Road to Gold project, which aims to deliver Malaysia’s first Olympic gold at Paris 2024. He hopes to get funding to hire more quality sparring partners and train abroad regularly.

“On their day, anybody can beat anyone. Whoever can grab hold of the opportunity, can become a champion. I want to be ready for that.”