PETALING JAYA: Lee Zii Jia looked to be on the road to one of his biggest paycheques and the best present for his 22nd birthday a fortnight away.
But he could not sustain his brilliant start and fell just short, losing 21-17, 13-21, 19-21 to former world champion Viktor Axelsen in the semi-final of the All-England badminton championships.
The national men’s singles ace produced one of his best ever performances but unfortunately, could not translate that into a surprise triumph on his debut to become only the seventh Malaysian to reach the men’s singles final in the Open era of the All-England.At 19-19, Zii Jia thought he had clinched the match point with his trademark net kill but, to his surprise, the umpire ruled it as a foul.
Zii Jia had his chances in the rubber but he failed to capitalise on his early advantage at 4-0 and 10-7. The only other Malaysians to have featured in the final since 1980 were his former coach Datuk Misbun Sidek, Foo Kok Keong, Rashid Sidek, Ong Ewe Hock, Mohd Hafiz Hashim and Lee Chong Wei. Of the six, only Chong Wei and Hafiz have emerged champions, winning four and one titles respectively.The unseeded player gunned down sixth seed Jonatan Christie and third seed and Olympic champion Chen Long, without dropping a single game prior to his defeat to Axelsen.“Overall, it has been an eye opening experience for me this week, despite my loss,” he said.“Moving forward, I still need to work on my nerves and have stronger determination at crucial moments.
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