On par: (from left) Chan Yin Chak, Angus Ng Ka Long, Lee Zii Jia, Liew Daren, Lee Cheuk Yiu, and Jason Gunawan training together in Hong Kong.
PETALING JAYA: A two-week of fun, hard work and quality sparring for Lee Zii Jia in Hong Kong may turn him into a winner again in the Asian Championships.
The Asian meet will start tomorrow in Dubai and defending champion Zii Jia and coach Liew Daren are quite satisfied with their joint training with the national Hong Kong men’s singles team, currently coached by Wong Tat Meng.
Independent shuttler Zii Jia was seen hard at work during the sparring session with German Open winner Angus Ng Ka Long (world No. 17), Lee Cheuk Yiu (20), Chan Yin Chak (91) and Jason Gunawan (162).
The world No. 4 Zii Jia spent hours in the gymnasium and also had a break from his routine to play basketball.
“I had a good time and enjoyed with nice company in Hong Kong,” said Zii Jia.
Daren, who is Zii Jia’s part-time coach, described the training stint in Hong Kong as a success.
“We trained with the top players there and enjoyed the sparring sessions. The quality training will help us during the Asian meet as the draw is tough from the opening round,” said Daren.
Zii Jia plays Angus in the opener and will be out to make up for the disappointment of losing to the latter in the second round of the Indonesian Masters this year. The Malaysian has only beaten the latter once in their past three encounters with his sole victory pulled off in the 2019 German Open.
If Zii Jia beats Angus, he will likely face Japan’s world No. 15 Kanta Tsuneyama in the second round.
Also in the lower half with Zii Jia are second seed Anthony Ginting of Indonesia, Li Shifeng of China and Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand.
In the top half with Ng Tze Yong are top seed Jonatan Christie of Indonesia, Loh Kean Yew of Singapore, Lakshya Sen of India, Lu Guangzu of China and Chou Tien-chen of Taiwan.
World No. 25 Tze Yong will face Lee Cheuk Yiu in the first round and has a slight advantage after beating the latter in the Singapore Open last year.
Zii Jia hopes to recapture the form that saw him win the Asian title last year.
“Winning the Asian Championships title was the highlight for me last year,” said Zii Jia.
“The win was a significant moment for me as it was my maiden Asian meet.
“After that, I played in the Thomas Cup Finals and Thailand Open and I’ve to admit that I was exhausted.“But managing to win the Thailand tourney under those circumstances was a breakthrough for me. I hope to produce the same fighting spirit.”
Zii Jia has been slowly finding his feet again after a disappointing start to the year where he was eliminated in the early rounds of the Malaysian Open, Indian Open, Indonesian Masters and German Open.
The 25-year-old showed significant improvement when he reached back-to-back semi-finals in the All-England and Swiss Open last month.
