Written By : R.Gunasekaran
Lee Zii Jia is rallying on his team-mates to provide a stern test to the big guns competing at the upcoming Thomas Cup (Oct 9-17) after Malaysia were grouped together with Japan, Canada and England in Group D.
The rescheduled biennial tournament will take place in Aarhus, Denmark a year after it was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with 16 nations set to do battle in one of badminton’s most prestigious events.
The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) are likely to field a young team in Denmark, with Lee leading the line.
“It doesn’t matter who we face actually. All the big teams are almost equal in strength so we must be prepared to take on anyone. Our team will be a young one, with an average age of 23-24.
“I will be the first one to play, and it will be a big responsibility. But I hope every player will play their role well, and not just depend on me as this is a team event. We need to be aligned together as one, that is most important,” Lee said.
At the 2018 edition in Bangkok, Lee was fielded as second singles shuttler behind Lee Chong Wei.
He did well to win all his group matches, and gave Jonatan Christie a fight in the quarter-finals before losing in three games.
Malaysia ended up losing to Indonesia 3-1 to crash out, with Chong Wei delivering the only point against Anthony Ginting.
National coaching director Wong Choong Hann said the national contingent’s immediate target for the Thomas Cup is to progress to the last eight.
“We do not have a name list for the Thomas Cup yet, we will only finalize the team several weeks before the tournament. We will be evaluating the shuttlers based on their performance in training and through an internal ranking,” he said.
“As for the Uber Cup team, we must try to beat Canada and Denmark to progress to the quarter-finals. It will also be made up of a young team,” said Wong.
Malaysia are also in Group D of the Uber Cup, with China being the other team in the group.
The national shuttlers are set to resume training at the Academy Badminton Malaysia on August 23.
Before the Thomas Cup, the national contingent will compete at the Sudirman Cup, which is another team event to be held from Sept 26-Oct 3 in Vantaa, Finland.
