It makes Zii Jia Lee-vid
Shuttler hates losing to a junior in training
Lee Zii Jia may be the nation’s No. 1 men’s singles shuttler but he is not invincible especially during training sessions.
Surprisingly, what bugs the 22-year-old most and makes him “very angry” is when he gets beaten by a junior.
“When I lose to a junior in training ... it makes me very angry,” said Zii Jia, in an interview with Badminton Unlimited, a Badminton World Federation (BWF) weekly show.
Also in the brief 80-second segment of ‘The Lighter Side’ , in which Zii Jia answered all the questions with a one-liner, a super-fit Zii Jia also admitted that he dislikes running.
“Running during training ... I hate it,” replied Zii Jia when he was asked about the thing he dislikes most.
As for his favourite food, Zii Jia said he will always reward himself
They can be irritating, they get cocky sometimes after beating us.
by feasting on Korean barbecue on his “cheat” days.
He also said music is something he can’t live without and that headphones are “essential item” when he travels as he must listen to music before going to bed.
Former training partner Soong Joo Ven shares Zii Jia’s dislike and annoyance of losing to the juniors.
“Of course we can’t win all the time.
“When you don’t play well or you are not in a good condition you’re bound to be beaten by juniors,” said Joo Ven, who was dropped from the national team in January.
“They know our game well because we play together everyday.
“It’s not only Zii Jia, even myself and Cheam (June Wei) ... we all hate losing to the newcomers.
“They can be irritating, they get cocky sometimes after beating us.”
Joo Ven also added that normally anger would take over when they lost to juniors and scenes like racquet-throwing was quite common.
“We can be so angry with ourselves and will throw our racquet on the floor,” he recalled.
“But we try not to do that often because (former head coach) Misbun (Sidek) doesn’t like us doing that.
“He will say ‘racquet is your weapon’, so how could you throw it away.”
Soong Joo Ven