Kuala Lumpur: The World No. 7 men’s singles player – Lee Zii Jia, has refused to confirm or deny if he will remain in the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) after news broke on Monday that he was having several rounds of negotiations with BAM about his future with the association.
When talking to Malaysian media at the Academy Badminton Malaysia (ABM) on Tuesday, Lee didn’t reveal more than what he should, and instead, he said it would be up to BAM to make the official announcement.
“At this point, I am not in the place to comment anything further about this, BAM should be the party to make the official announcement,” said Lee to the Malaysian media.
“As a player, I am just focusing on my training, to produce good results and make my country proud,” added Lee.
“I am not a rebellious kid, otherwise, you wouldn’t have seen me still training here today,” continued Lee.
(video: Astro Arena)
When asked how did he feel when he has been constantly being compared to the Malaysian badminton legend, Lee Chong Wei.
“First, I am not Dato Lee Chong Wei. What he has achieved and things that he has right now, it’s totally different than what I have,” explained Lee.
Meanwhile, BAM’s singles coaching director Wong Choong Hann also admitted that losing Lee Zii Jia would be a huge loss to BAM.
“If Zii Jia leaves, it’s going to be a big loss for BAM,” said Wong.
Wong also said he has never talked to Lee in regards to this matter.
“We usually talked about how to improve his game, some technical-related topics, and also his goals for 2022,” added Wong.
“Right now, everything remains the same because Zii Jia still comes to training,” explained Wong.
“If the rumors of him leaving turn out to be true, we’ll just need to try to develop our junior players to become top-tier shuttlers,” concluded Wong.
