Kuala Lumpur: The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) has denied rumors swirling on social media that the World No. 7 men’s singles player and reigning All England Champion – Lee Zii Jia is leaving the association to become a professional player.
BAM’s secretary-general – Kenny Goh told Malaysian reporters that he had spoken to Lee in regards to the rumors, and Lee was completely unaware of the news spreading on the internet.
“I just spoke to Zii Jia, he doesn’t know anything about the rumors about him leaving BAM,” said Goh.
“His determination and vision remains the same as the leading national men’s singles of the country. He is 100 percent focused on Paris 2024,” added Goh.
Lee’s performance has been very inconsistent since winning the 2021 All England title.
The 23-year-old started the 2021 campaign badly by making the quarter-finals of the 2020 Yonex Thailand Open before crashing out in the first round of the 2020 Toyota Thailand Open. He then lost all three Group A matches at the 2020 BWF World Tour Finals.
Despite the loss in the semi-finals of the 2021 Swiss Open, Lee was able to regain his form on time to capture the 2021 All England title in an epic clash with Viktor Axelsen of Denmark in the All England final. Lee successfully qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics but was beaten by China’s Chen Long in the round of 16.
He then started to retire or to withdraw at several tournaments citing fatigue and injury issues, such as retiring in the final of HYLO Open and at the first round of 2021 Indonesia Masters; he lost to Rasmus Gemke of Denmark in the first round of Indonesia Open the following week, and lost to Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand in the semi-finals of 2021 BWF World Finals; he retired again in the quarter-finals of 2021 BWF World Championships against Anders Antonsen of Denmark.
Rumors on the internet stated that if Lee Zii Jia decided to leave BAM, he would get a sponsorship of up to 4 million ringgit (USD $958k) to fund his career as a professional player.
