ZII JIA HAS TOP 10 DREAM

World No 20 shuttler announces his target this year

IT may seem like a long shot, but Lee Zii Jia would like to break into the world top 10 by the end of the year.

Currently ranked World No 20, the 21-year-old is 11,668 points behind world No 10, Kenta Nishimoto of Japan.

“This is definitely one of my targets, I know it’s not going to be easy but I would like to try and achieve it by the end of this season,” said Zii Jia, who is also Malaysia’s highest ranked shuttler at the moment.

After winning the Taiwan Open last October, Zii Jia did well to come back and reach the final of the Korea Masters in December.

And at the start of this season, the Kedah-born shuttler followed up by reaching four quarter-finals on the trot

(Thailand Masters, Malaysia Masters, Indonesia Masters and German Open), and then another earlier this month at the New Zealand Open.

Along the way, Zii Jia has also upset several world top 10 players, including World No 4, Chou Tien Chen of Taiwan and Nishimoto.

At the recent Sudirman Cup, Zii Jia saw off World No 12, Sameer Verma, contributing a crucial point for Malaysia, as they went on to beat India 3-2 en route to reaching the quarter-finals.

In the last eight, Zii Jia fought hard before succumbing to a 21-18, 21-16 defeat to world No 1, Kento Momota of Japan.

The Malaysian’s next assignment is the Australian Open next week, where he faces Sameer again in the opening round.

“I think I played well in the Sudirman Cup, and I hope to maintain this form as it will only get tougher from now.

‘In the match against Momota, I did my best but playing the world No 1 was never going to be easy. Hopefully in the future, I will be able to beat him.

“As for Sameer, I defeated him at the Sudirman Cup and would like to do it again in Australia. It won’t be easy because all the top players are fighting to collect enough Olympic qualifying points, I just want to fight match by match.

“I want to see if I can be a top contender in the next one or two years,” he added.