Lee Zii Jia exclusive: What Malaysian badminton star learned from challenging year
The Malaysian star has tumbled out of the world top 10 after a difficult season. He told Olympics.com recently what his struggles have taught him.
Badminton
Lee Zii Jia freely admits he has had a difficult year. So much so that he took a month away from badminton in June to recharge and, he said at the time, rediscover his passion for the sport.
However, with every setback comes a learning opportunity, and the Malaysian believes the challenges he has faced in 2023, falling out of the world's top 10 to a low of 18, have taught him "a lot".
Lee said many people had a mistaken view of what he should do, or should have done, to recover his form.
"People will say are you just going to train hard and get good results," he told Olympics.com in an exclusive interview ahead of the 19th Asian Games Hangzhou. "That's not the way. There's so many things you need to do, it's not just go and train and go to the tournament and perform. I think it's not that simple."
This year, Lee has suffered first-hurdle eliminations at the Malaysia Open, Asia Championships, Singapore Open, Indonesia Open, Korea Open, Japan Open, and China Open, and has not reached a single final.
He said that has made him reconsider the people around him.
"I think I have met a lot of challenges in my life, especially this year. And now, I know who I'm going to trust, who I'm not going to trust.
"I'm quite appreciative that I have my family and my team to always be there, they've got my back and always support me all the time."
Lee Zii Jia on dealing with defeat and setbacks
The 25-year-old Malaysian was candid and thoughtful in the interview, acknowledging that he perhaps tried to rush things when he first suffered the drop in his form.
"I'm a person who's not… very patient about everything," Zii Jia admitted. "It happened very fast. We all know that in life you have ups and downs, and sometimes you have to go through some process to become a more measured person. And I think this is what I have; what I'm having now."
Many of the world's top athletes have spoken about the importance of learning from defeats. Perhaps Lee's previous wave of good performances, which saw him surge as high as second in the world rankings, meant he did not see what he was doing wrongly, in turn leading to his loss of form?
"When everyone is winning, we can't see our problems because we are winning," Lee acknowledged. "So of course there's no 'problem' for us. So when you're losing, we only (then) see that, oh, maybe there's some something we need to improve and something we need to make changes to.
"So that's why I think losing is a part of sports also."
Thankfully for Zii Jia, he has had a strong support team around him – his manager and sister Lee Zii Yii and the rest of his family.
"They just always gave me confidence and told me that this is a process. You have to be patient. It can be one month, it can be one day, it can be one or two years. But you just have to be patient and be ready for that moment when you bounce back again."
And Lee shared that he was also seeing a sports psychologist, joining the ranks of many top athletes, although he also recognised it would not be something everyone agreed with.
"Some players might not need it, but for me (it's quite personal), because I have had a very tough time.
"I think it's good to have some person other than your family or your coach as well – a psychologist can be someone you can tell everything and he can come up with some kind of conclusion so you feel better."
Lee Zii Jia speaks on being a role model
Carrying a nation's hopes in badminton and being anointed the successor to a legend like Lee Chong Wei did not come easy for Zii Jia.
"Life is quite different since I'm getting (more) famous especially in Malaysia. Before that happened, you know, I can go out and hang with friends, go any place I want. But now it seems the only place I can stay and feel comfortable is in my home, because I'm a person who quite likes privacy."
That said, the 25-year-old Zii Jia knows full well what his position means. "I'm quite clear that I'm a role model for the new generation, especially for the young people.
"I have a slogan called Dare to Dream. What I'm trying to show them is, I hope that they can dare to dream (of) whatever they want to become, and then to decide to become (it) one day."
On court, Lee will focus on the road ahead one match at a time. He has already reached the last 16 at the Asian Games, including seeing off Hong Kong China's Angus Ng in the first round.
"The ups and downs have been crazy," Lee said back in August. "I'm just trying to go into each match and play a very good game.
"That's my target now."