KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian professional men’s singles ace Lee Zii Jia (pix) did not regret his decision to skip the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Zii Jia admitted that he would have joined the quadrennial multi-sports event should he have been injury free.
“I did have an injury and was having back-to-back tournaments at the time. If I had the chance to play at the Commonwealth Games, I would play,“ he said after the training session here, today.
Recently, Zii Jia drew flak as he ‘prioritised’ the World Championships in Tokyo over the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
However, the world number four decision to skip the Birmingham Games has come back to haunt him as he went down to China’s Zhao Jun Peng, 19-21, 21-11, 19-21 in the third round of the world meet.
The Malaysian then suffered another blow as he lost to K.Srikanth of India, 20-22, 21-23 in the opening round of the Japan Open, a week later.
“I definitely was struggling with stress at that time. There were very high expectations and I was very disappointed with my performance at the world meet. Having said that, it’s a process, I have to move on,” he said.
In the meantime, Zii Jia said he will be heading to Denmark a week earlier before the Denmark Open on Oct 18-23, to train with reigning world champion Viktor Axelsen.
“Axelsen is the best player right now and maintaining his condition well. He has always been someone I look up to,“ he added.-Bernama
