In yet another disappointing show on home soil, world No. 11 and national badminton player Lee Zii Jia found himself crashing out from the second round of the Malaysia Open.
And it seems that even he himself is tired of going through the motion of losing consistently, as exhibited in a post-match press conference.
Lee Zii Jia: ‘Sick of saying come back stronger’
Speaking to reporters following his shocking loss, Zii Jia made known how frustrated he was with his recent performance.
Every day, there are victories and losses and I have no choice. But I hate it when I keep saying ‘I’ll try again’ or ‘Come back stronger’ because I’ve gotten sick of it.
“But from my side, I’m quite positive that I will never give up. I still come for training sessions and finish the tasks my coach (Wong Tat Meng) gives to me. As I always say, this is all part of the process,” he said.
The 26-year-old said that while he doesn’t know whether he’ll reach his peak even until he retires, he remains steadfast in his quest to be champion again.
Second time suffering an early exit
According to NST, Zii Jia went down to China’s Lu Guang Zu 16-21, 21-19, 21-15, making it his second straight first-round exit in the home tournament and his third since his debut in 2019.
Despite this defeat, he is still on course to qualify for the Paris Olympics this July and is set to compete in the India Open (Jan 16-21) and the Indonesia Masters (Jan 23-28).
Malaysia is still looking to reclaim the Malaysian Open title, where it was last won by Datuk Lee Chong Wei in 2018.
Watch the post-match press conference here:
“Saya pun benci juga keluar nk jawab lagi kalah nk try again lagi, come back stronger tu mcm dah bosan la. Saya taktau bila mgkin blh berdiri dekat sini cakap, saya sudah menang saya sdh champion saya dah sgt confident but i hope satu hari nnti akan boleh cakap mcm ni dekat sini” pic.twitter.com/2p9Fj7EZHo
— Syakirah Zulkifly (@SykrhZlkfly) January 9, 2024
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