CHENGDU, April 30 — Is professional men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia’s confidence rattled now?
This was due to the fact that he admitted needing to regain his self-confidence ahead of the last eight competitions in the 2024 Thomas Cup finals after going down to world number one Viktor Axelsen 16-21, 22-24, in the last Group D fixture between Malaysia and Denmark at the Chengdu High-Tech Zone Sports Centre today.
The world number 10 even said the gap is still there between him and Axelsen, which saw the Dane secure his sixth win in nine meetings.
“Today’s game needs to be improved. I mean, I had set very high personal expectations and expected myself to perform even better.
“Everyone knows that these past two to three years, I went through ups and downs and struggled to find my best condition. For me, I was not satisfied and still have many more things to do,” he told the press at the mixed zone.
Meanwhile, men’s doubles player Aaron Chia was clearly perplexed by a controversial call made by the service judge, who claimed he produced a ‘spin serve’ when they were leading 19-15 towards the end of the men’s doubles second set.
Asked how they managed to not let the decision distract their focus, he said having quite a comfortable lead helped keep their cool to claim Malaysia’s maiden point with a 17-21, 21-17, 21-16 victory in the second match of the day.
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) temporarily banned’ spin serve’, which involved players spinning the shuttle before launching it. It proved to be tough to return or completely unplayable.
In the meantime, Nur Izzuddin Rumsani, who formed a partnership with Goh Sze Fei and secured Malaysia’s second point, hopes they can carry on the winning rhythm against Rasmus Kjaer-Frederik Sogaard 23-21, 22-20, into the quarter-finals.
World number 233 Justin Hoh, who put up a commendable display after he pushed hard Rasmus Gemke, ranked 26th, before going down fighting 13-21, 21-19, 13-21 in the decider, said he learnt a lot to compete against a higher-ranked player today.
The 20-year-old also admitted he could not match Gemke’s speed in the third set, which allowed Denmark to top Group D after a 3-2 win.
Malaysia, who had already secured the last eight spot, kicked off the Thomas Cup 2024 in style with a massive 5-0 win against Hong Kong on Saturday (April 28) and kept the momentum going by whipping minnows Algeria 5-0 yesterday.
On the other hand, Denmark opened their group campaign with similar dominance, defeating Algeria on Saturday and Hong Kong yesterdaywith an identical scoreline.
The Thomas Cup 2024 runs until May 5.
— Bernama
