KUALA LUMPUR: Shocked and thoroughly upset.
That was the reaction from Gerard Monteiro, deputy chef de mission to the Birmingham Commonwealth Games on men’s singles ace Lee Zii Jia’s withdrawal from the Games.
“I am disappointed because this is the Commonwealth Games and we were hoping for him to bring us a medal,’’ Gerard said after visiting the Academy Badminton Malaysia (ABM) in Bukit Kiara yesterday.
Zii Jia dropped the bombshell on Wednesday night, citing the difficulty coping with the tight schedule besides wanting to focus fully on the World Championships in Tokyo from Aug 22-28. The Commonwealth Games will run from July 28-Aug 8.
Asked whether Zii Jia had officially notified the contingent and Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM), Gerard said they had yet to receive anything from the world number five as of now.
“I haven’t got any official statement from him, all we know for now is the video that he released yesterday and we were all very surprised,’’ he added.
Following Zii Jia’s withdrawal, Gerard said they would have to review their medal target as announced by OCM last week.
OCM are targeting two gold medals from badminton, while gymnastics, lawn bowls, weightlifting, squash and powerlifting are expected to chip in one gold each.
The Badminton Association of Malaysia had previously banked on the men’s singles and mixed team events to achieve the target set by OCM in Birmingham.
However, Gerard still hoped that other shuttlers can rise to the occasion.
“Badminton always delivered medals in every edition. The players are preparing well, plus they had a good outing in the Indonesia Masters and Indonesia Open,’’ he said. — Bernama
