In a shocking move, Malaysia's top men's singles badminton player, Lee Zii Jia, decided not to compete for Malaysia at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, which is set to be held from July 28th to August 8th this year.
The 24-year-old badminton icon made the decision to dedicate his undivided attention and focus towards his major goal this year, which is to embrace the World Championship title, which will begin in Tokyo on August 21st.
Perseorangan lelaki utama negara, Lee Zii Jia korbankan impian beraksi di Sukan Komanwel Birmingham 2022 buat kali pertama bagi beri fokus dan tumpuan kepada Kejohanan Dunia musim ini !!!! pic.twitter.com/C4YIZIzyCk
— ASTRO ARENA (@ASTROARENA) June 22, 2022
Before this announcement, Lee Zii Jia was seen as a potential gold contributor for the Malaysian team, which has hoped to return from the games with seven gold medals.
"This decision was made due to the state of my physique after competing in several events in a succession." Zii Jia explained. "I'm not getting enough sleep right now because of the circumstances."
"I had to choose between the Commonwealth Games and the World Championships." "I also discussed it with my team, and we chose to focus more on the World Championships," he stated in a video posted to Twitter by Astro Arena.
Whichever game he chooses to focus on, we hope Lee Zii Jia will be able to bring forth his best performance and achieve his goals!