Bring it on, Kento!
Zii Jia fired up for showdown with Japanese world No. 1
LEE Zii Jia has set his sights on taking on world No. 1 Kento Momota after reaching the main draw of the Perodua Malaysian Masters.
The 20-year-old could set up a meeting with Momota in the last 16 tomorrow if he beats Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk of Thailand in the first round at the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil today.
“A chance to meet Momota itself is a great motivation for me to clear my first hurdle,” said Zii Jia who moved up five rungs to No. 37 in the latest world ranking after reaching the last eight in the Thailand Masters last week.
“I lost to him in our first meeting two years ago (in the semi-finals of the Czech International Challenge in 2017).
“Back then, he was just making his comeback (after the gambling ban).
“It would be great to meet Momota again, this time as the world No. 1 and world champion.
“When you’re going up against an opponent of his calibre, you can only gain.”
Zii Jia made it to the tournament proper after battling through two tough qualifying matches, especially his opening encounter against compatriot Soong Joo Ven yesterday.
Zii Jia had to save a match point in the deciding game to overcome Joo Ven 21-23, 21-13, 24-22 in an hour.
Several hours later, Zii Jia returned to court with a much improved display to defeat Thailand’s Sitthikom Thammasin 21-17, 21-16, this time taking just 37 minutes.
On his struggle against Joo Ven, he explained: “I never fancy playing against own teammate. I would prefer to face China’s Zhou Zeqi (whom Joo Ven replaced in the eleventh hour following the Chinese player withdrawal) to be honest.
“The fact that people always regard me as the No. 2 in the national team has piled more pressure on me.”
Zii Jia will now fly the nation’s flag with independent shuttler Liew Daren.
Daren, seeking to emulate his semi-finals run last year, will be up against Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia.
The other two independent shuttlers Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin and Chong Wei Feng failed to reach the main draw after losing in their respective second qualifying matches.
Iskandar, who finished runner-up to Lee Chong Wei in 2016, went down 12-21, 21-16, 21-12 to Tanongsak while Wei Feng was beaten by Denmark’s Victor Svendsen 20-22, 21-8, 19-21.