By V. Ashok

Where is Lee Zii Jia? Oh, it’s ok. We can see Ng Tze Yong here.

Sorry if those lines above sounds unpleasant but the truth is our badminton fans are starting to compare both our national men singles players who are at ‘different strokes’ in term of their respective performance.

Not many seem to have a clue to explain what actually strike Zii Jia, who surprisingly, is a coach-less player now. Another worrying factor, he is also losing his grip on winning tournaments which he is capable on his best days.

As for Tze Yong, we know something very positive is happening to him on the court. The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) is likely to give more prominent on his future progress. They believe he got the talent to rise and close the gap with his national team mate.

The target is to focus on a programme that would see him qualify for the 2024 Olympics Games in Paris. To give more space, a decision was also made to exclude him from the national squad who are currently participating in the Badminton Asian Mixed Team Championship (BAMTC) in Dubai which started on February 14.

His place was given to another promising talent, Leong Jun Hao to fill the men singles slot together with Zii Jia.

Some officials made it clear they are pushing Tze Yong to get into the world top 16 and his qualifying round for the Paris quest will be starting this May with some tight schedules ahead.

“We take this phase as a very important moment for Tze Yong. This early preparation is to ensure his steady progress to qualify to the Olympics. That’s the reason we dropped him from BAMTC in Dubai,” said the singles coaching director, Wong Choong Hann as quoted by a national daily, recently.

Tze Yong is currently at number 28 in world ranking. With a string of good performance last year, we can bet he will rise and book his ticket to the Olympics.

He showed his prowess when was chosen to play in the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, replacing Zii Jia who opted to skip the games. The young man from Johor Baru did an excellent job beating India’s ace, Srikanth Kidambi to score a crucial point which eventually lead Malaysia to win the gold medal in the mixed team event.

For Zii Jia, it would be no problem to qualify on merit as world No.4 but the concern is how fast he can get back on the winning track again.

Badminton critics fears the 2021 All-England champion could be in more trouble unless he can transform drastically and make a quick return to the podium in coming tournaments.

At the third week of January 2023, Zii Jia was world number two but now he fell two steps to be at No.4 in the latest ranking released. This follows his dismal performance at the Malaysian Open, Indonesian Masters and Indian Open, last month.

We all know the fact a champion like him can’t be winning all the time. He is trying his best to ‘wake up’ and need some time to seek an answer for himself.
Once he gets his confidence and good guidance, the winning flow will eventually come.

At the moment the tall and sturdy player who hails from Alor Setar also need strong support and motivation to reset and return as the same industrious player again.

Like it or not, Zii Jia – who is touted as the next Datuk Lee Chong Wei – is still our best hope to win the elusive singles gold at the Olympics and World Championship.
To achieve this he needs a top class coach quickly.

World number one, Viktor Axelsen, for example is doing fine with his best coaches over the last few years, winning many important tournaments globally. With his consistency and ability to manage things himself, he is a clear favourite to defend his Olympic title he won in Tokyo, last year.

Zii Jia has a mountain to climb now. Since lifting the trophies at the Asian Championship in Manila and Thailand Open, last May, he has reached just one final and failed to make past the round of 16 on no fewer than six occasions.

Unlike him, our new found hero, Tze Yong, 22, is progressing by leaps and bounds. It is indeed a good sign for our national team not to depend heavily on Zii Jia all the time.

The gritty player is on the right track with the right attitude. This is the most important element needed to launch his professional career after making a promise, last year to break into the top 30 bracket.

Now, he has fulfilled his promises and currently is at 28 in world ranking.

He is not at all under any pressure to win the gold in Paris 2024 like Zii Jia. If he qualifies it would be a huge success as the next target should be a hunt for a medal at the 2028 Games.

It’s fair but Tze Yong should not rest on his laurels. Instead he must start showing his appetite to win a few titles this year.

Another player in focus to excel at international stage is Jun Hao. The Kuala Lumpur born was the boy’s singles champion at the 2017 Asia Junior Championship and that achievement was followed by a silver medal at World Junior Championship, the same year.

Jun Hao, 23, who is currently ranked world No.66, won his first senior title at the Finland Open by defeating his compatriot, Cheam June Wei in the final.

With these two youngsters knocking the door on Zii Jia, it will only help the trio to raise their qualities and game level to prove who is the best singles player. Arguably, that’s how the men singles need to be. Not a one player dominance.

Zii Jia, Tze Yong and Jun Hao should be inspired too by what Chong Wei had done. Our badminton legend knows exactly how hard it is to stay in top form.

During his 19-year career, he endured crushing defeats, lingering injuries and even battled cancer to become one of his nation’s best competitors on the global stage.

“I know Zii Jia is experiencing a difficult time right now. But, he has my support all the way. It can be lonely and one can easily lose focus,” the former world number one was quoted saying, recently.

Chong Wei was surprised after the 2019 Sea Games gold medallist parted ways with his coach, Indra Wijaya, last November and relies advice from former top 10 ranked player, Liew Daren.

The three-time Olympics silver medallist agreed players do most of the work in training, but no players can go on without a coach and it is the same in other sports.

He added, coaches can be good motivators too and they are capable to analyse matches.

With his vast experience it would be nice if Chong Wei could motivate our men singles players from time to time. Also to teach them how to handle tournament pressure from his view point as a former world class player.

He is a highly respected badminton personality. Our players, including the men and women doubles pair will definitely benefit from his words of wisdom.

Majulah badminton untuk negara!