KUALA LUMPUR: National men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia has attributed his run of good results to the guidance of former BAM technical director Morten Frost and the men’s singles coaches.
Since clinching his maiden senior title at the Polish International Series in September, Zii Jia continued his impressive run in Europe when he reached his third GP Gold semi-final this year, at the Bitburger Open in Germany yesterday.
The Malaysian No 2, ranked behind former World No 1 Lee Chong Wei, has surpassed his initial target of breaking into the world top 60, as he is now ranked No 55.
“So much has happened for me in just this one year. I have always trained very hard and from every tournament I competed in, I gained valuable experience,” said the 19-year-old, who stunned third seed Brice Leverdez of France in the last eight stage of the Bitburger Open.
“I try not to think too much as I want to stay focused on playing my best everytime. Sometimes I fail, but I don’t dwell on it as I pick myself up and move on.
“I owe my success to people like Morten Frost especially, and all the men’s singles coaches (Misbun Sidek, Hendrawan, Indra Wijaya and Sairul Amar Ayob) who have helped me a lot. This is my way of repaying them, by producing results.”
Frost, who served as BAM technical director for nearly three years, resigned in September, citing personal reasons.
Zii Jia, tipped to be Malaysia’s next singles star, will play Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke in a late semi-final match tonight.
The other semi-final is between fourth seed Hsu Jen Hao of Taiwan and Mark Caljouw of the Netherlands.
Two of Malaysia’s scratch pairings in the men’s doubles, Goh V Shem-Teo Ee Yi and Tan Wee Kiong-Ong Yew Sin, crashed out in the quarter-finals yesterday.