Chill and relax

Modest target: Lee Zii Jia said he will be satisfied if he makes the quarter-finals. — Badminton Photo

PETALING JAYA: Whether Lee Zii Jia is being modest or playing mind games, the world No. 8 said that his target was just a quarter-final outing to match his feat in Basel two years ago.

For someone of his stature, it certainly comes a surprise when most of the major contenders including Japan’s defending champion Kento Momota, Indonesia’s Thomas Cup winners Anthony Ginting and Jonatan Christie and China’s duo Chen Long and Shi Yuqi are missing.

“Quarter-finals,” was Zii Jia’s brief reply when asked about his target after a hard-fought 21-10, 17-21, 21-11 win over Canada’s Jason Anthony Ho-Shue in the first round.

However, deep down he knows his chance to be crowned world champion can never get any brighter.

This comes after the competition was thrown wide open following the shocking loss of overwhelming favourite and Denmark’s Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen on Monday.

Zii Jia, meanwhile, is expected to clear his second hurdle with ease against Brazil’s Ygor Coelho before facing his first real test in either Danish veteran Hans Kristian Vittinghus or Japan’s Kanta Tsuneyama.

After a sloppy start against the world No. 45 Canadian, Zii Jia admitted that there’s an urgent need to work on his mental game.

“It was a tough start... my condition was not very good,” said Zii Jia.

“While I managed to recover in the third game, I didn’t know what caused the lapse of concentration in the second.

“This is something that I need to address.

“I have to prepare myself better mentally.”

Former national coach Datuk Rashid Sidek said Zii Jia has his reason for the modest target.

“It’s not wrong for him to play down his chances because he knows his body better than anyone else,” said Rashid.

“He has played so many back-to-back tournaments in the last six or seven weeks, so it’s difficult to stay focused on his goals.

“It could be also due to poor preparations as he has not been getting enough training due to the tight schedule and travelling between tournaments.”

However, Rashid believes Zii Jia has become one of the frontrunners for the crown now that Axelsen has been eliminated.

“With Viktor out, there will be no clear favourite now. But I think players like Zii Jia, Kean Yew (who slayed Axelsen), (Denmark’s Anders) Antonsen should have the edge,” said Rashid.

“Everyone is tired. But fatigue shouldn’t be an excuse because all players are in the same predicament.”