It’s never too late for Daren to seek success now that he’s on Zii Jia’s team

PETALING JAYA: No challenge is too great for independent shuttler Liew Daren.

After being stranded in Istanbul for a day due to adverse weather, the 35-year-old finally arrived in Birmingham yesterday for the All-England starting tomorrow but the travel setback has not dampened his spirit.

“I left Kuala Lumpur and was in transit in Istanbul but my flight was cancelled due to bad weather. It has delayed my arrival to Birmingham by one day but it’s all right,” said Daren.

Daren’s path has been strewn with obstacles of late but he keeps overcoming them one by one.

“I was down with Covid-19 three weeks ago and last year, I came so close to quitting the sport,” said Daren.

“I’ve had bad results last year. My sponsors however, still wanted to extend the partnership but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go on.

“I didn’t have any direction and even a coach or a support system to keep me motivated. I was seriously contemplating retirement,” he admitted.

It was at this point that an offer came from independent shutter Lee Zii Jia to become his assistant coach and training partner.

“We’ve been friends for a long time and usually, we train together during tournaments too. I accepted the offer.

“I hope to help him (Zii Jia) improve and at the same time, I now have a reason to keep playing. It’s good to have this new motivation.

“Zii Jia is ranked seventh in the world, and I will surely benefit by training with him too. This All-England is the first tournament that I will work together with him.”

While Daren is not expecting much in the All-England, he has the confidence that defending champion Zii Jia, who quit Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) in January, will continue to be successful.

“I’ve not had much time to prepare but Zii Jia has a good support team here. If he remains committed, I don’t see why he can’t go far,” he said.

Besides Daren, the others in Zii Jia’s team are coach Indra Wijaya, physiotherapist (Sandra Fiedler), physical trainer (Lim Joe Heang), and two part-time sparring partners Ter Chun Loong and Tan Choong Yen.

In the men’s singles opener tomorrow, Daren faces Toma Junior Popov of France while Zii Jia, who lost to Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand in the semi-finals of the German Open on Saturday, will take on Kenta Nishimoto of Japan.