PETALING JAYA: Liew Daren believes Lee Zii Jia can still finish the year on a high, with a return to the world’s top 32 now the main target.
That belief has been strengthened by Zii Jia’s encouraging run at last week’s Arctic Open, where he reached the semi-finals.
Although he missed out on a place in the final after losing to close friend Anders Antonsen, the Kedah-born shuttler showed signs of improvement in his game.
Daren, who took over as Zii Jia’s coach in January, was pleased with what he saw but admitted there is still plenty of work to be done by both him and Team LZJ to get the Paris Olympics bronze medallist back to his best.
“Of course, this time was much better compared to the last two tournaments. There was a lot of improvement, but now we have to work harder to keep improving,” said Daren when contacted.
Zii Jia had struggled for form in recent months and came under heavy criticism after losing in the second round of the Vietnam Open, a lower-tier Super 100 tournament, early last month.
Before that, he had also suffered an early exit at the Korean Masters after losing to fellow Malaysian Eogene Ewe.
The run in Finland should at least give Zii Jia some confidence heading into the Hylo Open in Germany from Oct 27-Nov 1.
His ranking has shot up to world No. 42, and he still has several tournaments left this year, including the Korean Open from Nov 3-8 and the Kumamoto Masters from Nov 10-15.
Daren remains confident Zii Jia can break into the top 32 again by the end of the year.
“Yes, for sure,” he said when asked whether qualifying for the Malaysian Open and returning to the top 32 remained the target.
The Malaysian Open, scheduled for Jan 21-31, will adopt the new tournament format introduced by the BWF, with the singles draw expanded from 32 to 48 players.
It will also be the first tournament on the BWF World Tour to use the new best-of-three 15-point scoring system, while the event will be extended to 11 days.
