Lee Zii Jia exclusive: "I have to be patient" with consistency issues after missing Asian Games medal
The Malaysian resumes his World Tour campaign at the Arctic Open in Finland (10–15 October) with more crucial Olympic qualification ranking points at stake, but tells Olympics.com he is not thinking about Paris 2024 yet after narrowly missing out on a medal finish at the Asian Games 2023.
Badminton
In the end, Lee Zii Jia was just one match, one game, and even one point away from leaving the 19th Asian Games Hangzhou badminton tournament with a medal.
One match point in a deciding game that did not go his way in the quarter-final against India's H.S. Prannoy that saw him edged out eventually and leave Hangzhou without precious metal around his neck.
Despite this, Lee wants his fans in Malaysia and around the world to know that he is working hard to try to regain consistency in his form, which has seen him obtain results that are either feast or famine – three World Tour semi-final appearances this year, countered by five first-round eliminations.
"I always told myself, 'yeah, I have to be patient,'" Lee tells Olympics.com in an exclusive chat in Hangzhou the day after his campaign ended.
"Although sometimes yes, you are frustrated when you lose, especially some matches like (against Prannoy), you just have to move on from that. There's no time for you to be upset.
"I've never had this kind of tough times before in my career. I would say it's a new experience for me and I've been through a lot and I learned a lot. This is a process. Some people, it takes years.
"I think I am going on this kind of process. And maybe the same situation will repeat and repeat, I don't know how long (it will take). But I'm doing my best and I'm doing my job as a player to train every day to listen to my team.
"I have a great team and I have a great coach (Wong Tat Meng) as well. He is an experienced coach, what he taught me is sometimes it's just that you need time."
Lee Zii Jia with coach Wong Tat Meng after beating world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn at the Asian Games in Hangzhou
Lee Zii Jia not happy with Asiad outing but "going in the right way" with form
Despite pushing Prannoy the distance and also beating Hong Kong China's Ng Ka Long Angus and the Thai world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn in Hangzhou, Lee moves on to his next event, the BWF World Tour Arctic Open in Finland (10–15 October), unhappy at the final result.
"If you ask me, I'm not that satisfied for the performance, although I actually played well (against Prannoy) and the few matches before also," the Malaysian says. "The only thing I can think positive is, me and my team, we are going in the right way for having my form back again."
What is the one thing he will take away from Hangzhou, if not a medal? "If the match hasn't finished yet, until the last point you just can't give up. Anything could happen and you just have to figure it out how to overturn the situation.
"No matter maybe if your opponent is leading 20-16 or 20-10, you just have to try. Try anything but just don't give up until the last point."
While Asian Games performances count towards players' Olympic qualification rankings, Lee – who would miss out on Paris 2024 based on the current rankings as of 3 October 2023 – surprisingly reveals that the Olympic qualification cycle is not currently on his mind.
The 25-year-old, who made his Olympic bow at Tokyo 2020 in 2021, admits that correcting his inconsistent form takes priority, and he doesn't look too closely at his qualifying status.
"Honestly, I don't worry that much (about) qualifying for the Olympics. For me now, my priority is how to get back my performance and to be stable on that kind of performance. Because I know when I'm good, I can perform well and I can beat top players, but my problem is how to maintain it."
As it stands, his fellow Malaysian Ng Tze Yong sits inside the top-16 of the qualification rankings, the point which serves as a cut-off to decide the number of quota places each National Olympic Committee (NOC) will obtain.
If Lee, who sits 17th as of 3 October, can move one spot up and maintain his position, he would potentially secure a second quota spot for Malaysia.
"Well, to be honest, I know my points now is… I don't know which rank I am now, but I think surely is in top 20. I think Tze Yong also is getting in top 16 and of course the whole nation, we hope that we can have two players qualified in the Olympics.
"It will be very great for Malaysia."
Note: As NOCs have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective teams at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.