KUALA LUMPUR, March 16 — The performance displayed by national professional singles player Lee Zii Jia seems to be improving despite his journey coming to an end at the quarter-finals stage of the 2024 All England Championships in Birmingham yesterday.
Former national player Datuk James Selvaraj said Lee’s defeat at the hands of India’s Lakshya Sen could have been avoided if the 25-year-old had wisely utilised his smashing strength to ‘finish off’ his opponent at the Utilita Arena Birmingham.
Although leading in the first set, 22-20, the world number 10 player failed to maintain the winning streak and was subsequently defeated in the next two sets by Lakshya 16-21, 19-21.
“I saw Lakshya playing it simple, his smashes were not that powerful, but Zii Jia with his height and perhaps the strongest smash among players at the All England 2024 did not use his advantage yesterday.
“Why did Zii Jia not use his smash? Opponents must surely fear his smash. This is a decision that is very detrimental, I do not know how he lost because I thought he could advance to the final and lift the title,” he said when contacted by Bernama.
James, puzzled by Lee’s elimination, acknowledged his belief that the world number 10 player would clinch his second personal title at the oldest badminton championship in the world after the 2021 edition, when he stylishly defeated the world number six player from Japan, Kodai Naraoka in the opening round and former 2021 world champion Loh Kean Yew from Singapore in the second round.
“He definitely played much better in All England 2024 (so far this year) because he managed to overcome seasoned players like Naraoka and Kean Yew.
“Based on the game against Naraoka, particularly with the Japanese player who enjoys playing rallies, but Zii Jia often uses his smashing strength to beat his opponent, but it was different when facing Lakshya,” he said.
Throughout his five appearances in individual championships this year, the former Badminton Asia Championship (BAC) 2022 champion has advanced to the quarter-finals three times including at the 2024 All England Championships, while being eliminated in the early rounds, in the first round twice including at the Malaysian Open last January.
Therefore, James, the former High Performance Director of the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) hopes the Kedah-born player can maintain his momentum and ultimately clinch gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Lee has a bright chance to make his second appearance on the Olympic stage after Tokyo 2020 as he currently ranks 10th in the ‘Race to Paris’ standings with 66,016 points.
A country can only have two representatives in the individual events, if both players are within the top 16 rankings in the “Race to Paris” rankings before the qualification period ends on April 28.
However, fellow national singles player Ng Tze Yong dropped out of the top 16 rankings in the ‘Race to Paris’ when he had to take a break from any tournaments after undergoing recent surgery on his back.
Meanwhile, James hopes the country’s top men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik will have the opportunity to advance to the final of the 2024 All England Championships by defeating the Taiwanese pair of Lee Jhe-Huei – Yang Po-Hsuan, in today’s semi-finals.
Chia-Soh, the fifth seeds, secured a spot in the semi-finals by defeating the Indonesian pair, Muhammad Shohibul Fikri-Bagas Maulana, 21-14, 21-11.
On the other hand, Lee-Yang advanced after defeating Supak Jomkoh-Kittinupong Kedren from Thailand, 21-13, 21-17.
Yesterday’s results saw Chia-Soh just a step away from repeating their best achievement of advancing to the final in the 2019 edition before losing to the Indonesian pair Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan 21-11, 14-21, 12-21.
— Bernama
