PETALING JAYA: Independent men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia may have fallen short of returning to the podium, but the 27-year-old at least heads home from Ontario with renewed confidence.
Zii Jia’s run at the Canadian Open ended in the semi-finals after he lost 13-21, 21-18, 18-21 to Japan’s Riki Takei in a 70-minute battle on Saturday.
The defeat was particularly disappointing as Zii Jia had beaten Takei, who is now coached by former world No. 1 Kento Momota, in the Australian Open qualifying rounds just three weeks ago.
Momota only began coaching last year after retiring from professional badminton.
However, Zii Jia took plenty of positives from the tournament, having reached his first semi-final in two years since the 2024 Paris Olympics.
He also described his semi-final victory over Taiwan’s Wang Po-wei as one of his best performances since returning from injury.
“Definitely, it’s one of my best performances since returning from injury.
“As you can see, I’ve struggled a lot and I’m still trying to regain my confidence. I’ve struggled again and again, but here I am.
“Although I haven’t beaten a top-ranked or top-10 player yet, I still consider this a good start as I work towards climbing back up the world rankings.
“As I’ve said before, the competition keeps getting tougher because everyone is getting better and better,” said Zii Jia in an interview with Badminton Images after the quarter-finals.
The Canadian Open also marked the end of Zii Jia’s four-week stretch of tournaments, having also competed in the Australian Open, Macau Open and last week’s US Open.
He will now return home before shifting his focus to the Taiwan Open from July 28-Aug 2, where he is set to begin his campaign in the qualifying rounds.
