Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia’s World No. 4 Lee Zii Jia has maintained his stance of not seeking the services of a coach despite suggestions from various former Malaysian national players who openly urged him to reconsider his decision.
Speaking to Malaysian media on Monday, Lee said he has no plans to appoint a coach right now but at the same time respected the opinions of those former national players.
“First of all I want to say that I respect comments from those legends,” said Lee.
“I want to be respectful to their suggestions, and I can’t reply to those comments one by one due to time constraints,” added Lee.
Several former Malaysian national players including Ong Ewe Hock, Rashid Sidek, Roslin Hashim, and James Selvaraj believed Lee Zii Jia should appoint a new coach after he had gotten off to a slow start thus far in 2023 when he lost to Angus Ng Ka Long 21-16, 20-22, 13-21 in the Indonesia Masters second round, also crashed out in the round of 16 at the 2023 India Open, and in the first round of the 2023 Malaysia Open.
Lee parted ways with his coach, Indra Wijaya from Indonesia, in November of 2022.
The 2021 All-England champion, said his current focus would be to continue to compete without the guidance of a coach.
“I just want to focus on what is in front of me now and what I have to do. To be honest, so far I have not thought about hiring a coach and will stick with that decision,” explained Lee.
Lee is currently preparing to lead the Malaysian squad at the Badminton 2023 Asia Mixed Team Championship (BAMTC) which will take place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) from February 14 to 19.
