Lee Zii Jia Aims to Bounce Back in Upcoming Tournaments Despite Denmark Open Defeat

By: Michelle Liew

National badminton singles player Lee Zii Jia is confident in claiming his third title in the next tournament, despite missing out on the Denmark Open title on Sunday.

The 24-year-old player still has a chance to win the title through the next two tournaments, namely the French Open on Tuesday and the Hylo Open in Saarbrucken, Germany from 1 to 6 November.

Zii Jia is refusing to give up even though he was defeated by China’s Shi Yu Qi in the Denmark Open finals. Ranked 3rd in the world, the defeat was a hard blow as Yu Qi is ranked 44th in the world. Questions were raised as to Zii Jia’s performance, but the player assured that he would bounce back from the shortfall, using his loss as motivation for his next tournament.

"I have tried my best and am able. It's something I have to accept and focus on again for the French Open.”

"I still have two tournaments to participate in and hope to maintain my performance," he said.

Zii Jia previously won the championship at the Thailand Open and the Asian Badminton Championships.

In the final match, Zii Jia, who was seeded fourth in the tournament and was fan favourite to win the final, lost in a three-set clash 18-21, 21-16, 12-21 at Arena Jyske Bank, Odense.

Fierce resistance was shown by Yu Qi in the first set, forcing Zii Jia to concede defeat 18-21. He then bounced back in the second set with a 21-16 win to take the match to a deciding set.

However, Zii Jia failed to maintain the best pace in the deciding set when she fell behind early in the game, thus giving Yu Qi the chance to claim the championship with a 21-12 victory

"Starting the third set, I wasn't very focused, and he was able to take that opportunity to control the game. Overall, this is still a good start for me," he said.