Lee Zii Jia to take temporary break to reignite his fire
Malaysian badminton star quits badminton temporarily after another early exit
Badminton
Lee Zii Jia has stunned the badminton world with his announcement to take a temporary break from competitive action to rekindle his pasison for the sport.
After crashing out 21-17, 21-15 to India's Lakshya Sen in the first round at the Indonesia Open in Jakarta on Wednesday (14 June), the star shuttler from Malaysia said in a post-match interview as reported by BWF: "I think for now, I will probably temporarily quit badminton. I don't know how long it will take, but I will quit badminton for a while, until I get my motivation again. I will take a break and get rest for a while."
The world number 11 has been struggling with consistency and concentration on court.
"It will be good for me to take a break," added Lee, who was ranked number two in the world at one point. "The priority for me is to find the passion on court. I did well at the Sudirman Cup but I haven't done much after that."
Lee won all his five matches at Sudirman Cup 2023 but suffered another first round-exit at last week's Singapore Open. The week before he lost in the round of the last 16 at his home Malaysia Masters.
His decision to prioritise reigniting his passion came very surprisingly as he had just presented ex-Malaysian international Wong Tat Meng as his new coach.