The world beckons but is Zii Jia ready to seize the stage?
Misbun urges Zii Jia to establish himself on prestigious stage
KUALA LUMPUR: The World Championships is a perfect platform for men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia to establish himself.
And head coach Misbun Sidek wants Zii Jia to grab the opportunity in his first world meet in Basel, Switzerland, from Aug 19-25, now that he has qualified on merit.
The 21-year-old Zii Jia and former international Liew Daren made the cut as Malaysia’s two representatives for the singles event after the qualifying period ended on April 30.
Misbun said the national No. 1, currently ranked 21st in the world, can accomplish two things at the world meet.
“Firstly, he has a golden chance to improve his position in the rankings,” said Misbun.
“Secondly, he has an opportunity to establish himself among the best players in the world by doing wellThis is a big platform for him to elevate himself and be a better player.”
Misbun intends to increase the intensity of training and hopes the youngster can cope.
“It all depends on whether he can handle the training programme geared up for the world meet,” he said.
“If he can understand the processes in training and keep up with the pace during practice, then he will be prepared for the world meet.”
But first, Misbun hopes to boost the youngster’s confidence.
Zii Jia’s morale is low after going through three tough tournaments in the last two months, which saw him getting knocked out in the first round of the Swiss and Malaysian Opens.
He also went on to lose in the second round of the Singapore Open. Two of those defeats were against his peer and world No. 8 Jonatan Christie of Indonesia.
He showed some progress when he upset world No. 10 Kenta Nishimoto of Japan in the first round of the recent New Zealand Open before losing narrowly to world No. 16 Angus Ng Ka Long of Hong Kong in the last eight.
“We’re still trying to restore his confidence. He took his defeat against Jonatan quite badly and is still confused about why he lost,” said Misbun.
“Losing to an Asian Games champion is understandable but Zii Jia needs to accept it and learn from the defeat. It’s a bitter lesson but one that can push him to strive for excellence in the World Championships.”