By V. Ashok

YOU could see the world of happiness on Lee Zii Jia’s face, though hidden after beating compatriot, Ng Tze Yong to win the Arctic Open title in Finland, Sunday.

He didn’t show much emotion ending his 17-month drought in badminton World Tour but deep inside, he must have felt much relief finally got the monkey off his back.

The world No.14 beat fellow Malaysian and world No.19, Tze Yong 21-14, 21-15 at the Energia Arena in Vantaa to claim his first title since winning the Thailand Open in May 2022.

After shaking hands with his opponent and match officials, the TV camera caught him standing still, showing a gesture pointing finger to his head then slowly placed it between his lips.

That’s likely a simple message to tell he got back his winning mentality and at the same time not to get carried away.

For the badminton critics, they must have thought the day might turn out to be another disappointing moment for the former All-England champion as he did regularly on the tour – falling when it mattered the most.

No. This time it was a different story. Zii Jia dominated the match and played like a man possessed. His game plan worked well and showed no mercy to win both games easily without giving much space to his opponent before wrapping up the match in 39 minutes.

Tze Yong, though fell in the last hurdle should be applauded for his heroic performance in these Super 500 event. But he found Zii Jia a tough nut to crack Sunday and denied him his maiden title in the World Tour.

In the early rounds till the semi-finals, the unseeded Johore lad showed his prowess defeating some seeded players enroute to final. This time he ran out of ideas to continue his giant killing feat. On the court, he was a pale shadow of himself, giving away easy points.

A good feeling is Malaysian badminton don’t have to depend on one player only in the men’s singles. We now have two stars to launch our challenges in future.

For his important win here, Zii Jia pocketed UD$31,500 (RM149,000) while Tze Yong earned US$15,530 (RM75,530) for being runner-up.

The showdown between them was the first all-Malaysian final in World Tour-level event in seven years.

The previous such final was between Dato Lee Chong Wei and Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin in 2016 at the Malaysian Masters Grand Prix Gold.

A hope to see a double victory for Malaysia in Vantaa failed when our young rising pair, Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun lost to world No.7, Kim Astrup-Anders Rasmussen from Denmark 18-21, 17-21 in the men’s doubles final.

The next stop for our players in Europe will be the Denmark Open starting October 17 and the French Open, a week later.

Majulah sukan untuk negara!

RESULTS

Mixed doubles: Feng Yanzhe-Huang Dongping (CHN) def. Jiang Jiang Zhenbang-Wei Yaxin (CHN) 21-14, 21-15

Women’s singles: Han Yue (CHN) def. Wang Zhi Yi (CHN) 16-21, 22-20, 21-12

Men’s singles: Lee Zii Jia (MAS) def. Ng Tze Yong (MAS) 21-14, 21-15

Women’s doubles: Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning (CHN) def. Jongkolphan Kititharakul/Rawinda Prajongjai (THA) 21-13, 24-22

Men’s doubles: Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen (DEN) def. Man Wei Chong/Kai Wun Tee (MAS) 21-18, 21-17