SHAH ALAM – The Malaysia badminton men’s team has guaranteed qualification for the quarter-finals of the ongoing Badminton Asia Team Championships (BATC), but independent men’s singles player Lee Zii Jia prefers not to be overconfident as they face Chinese Taipei in the final group match tomorrow.
The final match between the two sides will decide the group topper, who will head into the next round as a seeded team.
The 25-year-old, who made his start in Malaysia’s second group match against Kazakhstan in the BATC after a short training stint in South Korea, realised the Chinese Taipei team would be a tough opponent, citing his experience of losing to world number 21 Lin Chun-yi at the Malaysia Masters in May last year.
“We know that our opponents will field a strong side, and we can see the progress of their national team and the improvements they have made over the past two years.
“Hence, I believe it will be a tough match for me against their top men’s singles player (Chun-yi) after losing to him in our last meeting.
“However, I’m not the sole men’s singles player our coaches will rely on. We have top players like Ng Tze Yong, Leong Jun Hao, and Eugene Ewe Eon who have been showing a lot of progress, and we are not far behind our opponents.
“I think on paper, we are on par with Chinese Taipei, and we also have our top doubles pair in our team to face them. We will give our best tomorrow,” said Zii Jia after the match held at the Setia City Convention Centre.
Previously, national badminton coaching director Rexy Mainaky stressed the importance of mental readiness from his players against similarly competitive opponents like Chinese Taipei.
Aside from Zii Jia, the national men’s team, comprising Jun Hao, Eugene, Choong Hon Jian-Muhammad Haikal Nazri, and Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin, delivered a commanding 5-0 victory over Kazakhstan in their second group match, which secured qualification to the quarter-finals.
The top four teams will also earn automatic qualification for the Thomas Cup finals in China from April 28 to May 5. – February 14, 2024