SHAH ALAM: National badminton legend Datuk Abdul Rashid Mohd Sidek believes that professional shuttler Lee Zii Jia (pix) has been performing more consistently despite failing to retain his All England title recently.
In fact, Rashid felt that Zii Jia performed well at the All England, adding that the shuttler isn’t too far away from reaching peak form.
“Talking about Zii Jia’s progress, if we look at how he did at the All England, he played quite well. At the German Open (prior to the All England), I did not watch his matches that much, but it looked like he performed quite consistently. He lost in the semi-finals (of the All England)... that’s not much different (before he became a professional shuttler) compared to his performance now,” he said.
Rashid was commenting on Zii Jia’s recent semi-final exits in the All England (March 16-20) and German Open (March 8-13). He failed to defend his All England title after losing to India’s Lakhsya Sen while in the German Open he fell to Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn.
He said this at a media conference on ‘Majlis Berjiwa Juara, Memori 92’ at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Puncak Alam Campus here today that was also attended by UiTM deputy vice-chancellor for student affairs Prof Dr Mohd Sazili Shahibi.
Rashid said that Zii Jia’s performance could also be due to the different pressures he faced outside and within the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) but added that the shuttler now needed to be more independent and think more professionally to improve his career.
Commenting on Ng Tze Yong, who lost in the second round of the Swiss Open yesterday, Rashid said although the shuttler was still new, his performance was on the rise.
“Although he lost, he went all the way to the rubber game. So, you can see a rise in his performance level but we can’t expect him to continue winning. Bit by bit he will learn (from defeats). I feel that is better for him as he learns from his experiences.
“But I see that he is one of the better players that we can bank on for the points in the Thomas Cup Finals or other team events,” he said.
Earlier, the Education Faculty of the UiTM Puncak Alam Campus signed a collaboration agreement with the RS Badminton Club, run by Rashid, to develop a Basic Badminton Coaching Module, that will be used as part of the faculty’s student course starting tomorrow.
Mohd Sazili said the main objective of the collaboration was to produce trained teachers in the field of badminton coaching, which can indirectly be used when teaching in schools so as to produce new talents at the grassroots level. — Bernama