Miserable outings: Lee Zii Jia had suffered four first-round exits prior to the Australian Open.
PETALING JAYA: Use the performance in the just concluded Australian Open as a springboard for better results in future tournaments.
This is former men’s singles great Datuk James Selvaraj’s advice to independent shuttler Lee Zii Jia.
Zii Jia reached his first semi-final since March in the Australian tourney before he went down fighting 19-21, 21-13, 13-21 to eventual champion Weng Hongyang of China.
James now wants the 25-year-old to keep improving under new coach Wong Tat Meng after a largely disappointing year so far.
Zii Jia had suffered four first-round exits prior to the Australian Open at the Opens in Singapore, Indonesia, Korea and Japan.
In fact, the world No. 17 had lost in the early rounds (first and second round) in all his individual competitions before the Australian tourney except for the All-England and Swiss Open in March where he also reached the last four.
Tat Meng has been guiding Zii Jia since the Korean tourney last month.
“I can see some changes in Zii Jia’s game in the Australian Open,” said James.
“This tournament was like a breakthrough for him after all his early round losses.
“He also got a bit lucky as he faced lower ranked players in the first, second rounds and quarter-finals.
“In the earlier tournaments, he had to play against top 20 players in the early rounds and kept losing.
“He needs to use this result here as motivation, especially with the World Championships coming up next for him.”
Zii Jia had to fight hard to make it into the semi-finals in Sydney, beating former national teammates Leong Jun Hao (No. 51), Ng Tze Yong (No. 21) and India’s Mithun Manjunath (No. 50) all in three games.
In the world meet from Aug 21-27 in Copenhagen, Zii Jia, who will be unseeded, will need to raise his game further as he is expected to face a tough draw.
“He will be unseeded and can face any player in the top 10 as early as the first or second round,” said James.
“It will be difficult but not impossible for him to beat these players.
“He needs to work with Tat Meng on where he needs to do better and needs to play with confidence.”
The top 10 players in the world meet are Denmark’s defending champion Viktor Axelsen, Indonesia’s Anthony Ginting, Thailand’s silver medallist of last year Kunlavut Vitidsarn, Japan’s Kodai Naraoka, Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie, China’s Li Shifeng, Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew, China’s Shi Yuqi, India’s H. S. Prannoy and Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen.
Tze Yong will also be in the fray for Malaysia in the men’s singles.
