Badminton World Championships 2022: How to watch Lee Zii Jia live in action

Lee Zii Jia will be out to end Malaysia's long-wait for a title when he heads to the Badminton World Championships 2022 in Tokyo from 22-28 August.

The current world No.5 has been skipping World Tour tournaments and even declined representing the country at the Commonwealth Games so that he can focus on his preparations for this event.

The 24-year-old who had to pull out of the quarter-finals last year's edition in Huelva due to injury, will be out to make amends in Tokyo. No Malaysian has ever won a title in either of the five disciplines - men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles as well as mixed doubles - since the inception of the tournament in 1977.

Lee has openly shared that this could be his best shot at the title as he enjoys a career-high in the world rankings. However his recent form has proved to be unpredictable, most notably his second round exit at the Malaysian Open where he fell to a Indonesia's Shesar Hiren Rhustavito who is more than 20 places below in the world rankings.

The reigning Asian champion has enjoyed success on the World Tour circuit which includes clinching the Thailand Open title in May, a Super 500 event which had most of the top players competing.

Lee will now be hoping that his tactical approach to the worlds will pay dividend and allow his to be able to perform to his potential in Japan.

READ MORE: Lee Zii Jia reveals plans as he targets first world title

Lee will not have an easy path to a shot at the title

Lee Zii Jia will have little room for error if he wants a chance to become world champion. He'll open his campaign against France's Brice Leverdez, who has managed to upset the form book in the past, most notably knocking out Lee Chong Wei in the opening round of the 2017 world championships.

Should Lee perform as expected, then he'll face India's Thomas Cup winning team captain, Kidambi Srikanth in the third round. A win there could see the Malaysian face-off against either two-time world champion Momota Kento or Lakshya Sen.

If Lee makes the semi-finals, his opponent could potentially be reigning world champion Loh Kean Yew or even third seed Anders Antonsen from Denmark. Barring a massive shock, the showdown for the title could most likely see Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen on the other side of the net, and Lee would need to pull out another All England title clinching performance as he did in 2020 if he wants to becoming the first Malaysian to win a world title.

Where to watch the Badminton World Championships 2022 live in Malaysia?

The Badminton World Championships 2022 will be broadcast globally, with broadcast partners in each region. Fans in Malaysia can watch live on Astro's subscription channels.

And if you are unable to find a screen to watch the matches, you can still follow all the action on Olympics.com's live blog throughout the tournament.