TOKYO: National badminton legend Datuk Lee Chong Wei believes that men\u2019s singles ace Lee Zii Jia\u2019s quest for Olympic glory is not over, just \u201cdelayed\u201d following the latter\u2019s defeat at the hands of China\u2019s Chen Long in the quarter-finals of the Tokyo Games.<\/p>\n
The three-time Olympic silver medallist is also of the opinion that in terms of power, speed and technique, Zii Jia was way better than Chen Long during their clash on Thursday (July 29).
\n\u201cHowever, nervousness during crucial moments may be the reason why the reigning All England champion lost\u00a021-8, 19-21, 5-21 to 2016 Rio Olympic gold medallist Chen Long.<\/p>\n
\u201cLee Zii Jia, don\u2019t be too disappointed. It was a really good performance. The whole of Malaysia knows you tried your very best. I am proud of you. Malaysians are proud of you.
\n\u201cArmed with experience, Chen Long\u2019s a tough nut to crack for you. Chen Long\u2019s not the defending champion for nothing. He may look innocent but he\u2019s very intelligent in working out his opponent’s tactics.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s his first Olympics, who won\u2019t be nervous? My first time in the Olympics (2004 Athens) wasn\u2019t smooth sailing either. What\u2019s important is to keep your chin up and move forward. The next Olympics is just three years away. Your victory isn\u2019t over, just \u2018delayed\u2019,\u201d he posted on his Facebook page.
\nChong Wei was denied the Olympic gold medal three times by two China shuttlers – twice by his\u00a0nemesis Lin Dan in the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London editions as well as by Chen Long in 2016 Rio.
\nThe former world number one, who is also the Malaysian chef de mission for the Tokyo Olympics, also jokingly suggested that perhaps Zii Jia should find a place to train in Melaka.
\n\u201cHeard that training there will bring you the Olympic gold,\u201d he said, in reference to weightlifting sensation Hidilyn Diaz, who bagged the Philippines\u2019 first-ever Olympic gold medal a few days ago after training in Melaka for the past year.
\nMeanwhile, former national doubles ace Koo Kien Keat, through his social media posting, also encouraged Zii Jia to continue to shine at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
\n\u201cLee Zii Jia is only 23-years-old, (there is a) long journey for him in his badminton career. This defeat is just the beginning. Playing against Chen Long will never be an easy game, that’s the reason why Chen Long is the only defending champion in this Tokyo Olympics.
\n\u201cLot\u2019s of improvement can be seen in Zii Jia\u2019s game, physical and power, just lacking major tournament\u00a0experience. Kudos to Lee Zii Jia for the overall performance, and coach Hendrawan too,\u201d said Kien Keat, who once forged a formidable doubles partnership with Tan Boon Heong.
\n— BERNAMA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TOKYO: National badminton legend Datuk Lee Chong Wei believes that men\u2019s singles ace Lee Zii Jia\u2019s quest for Olympic glory is not over, just \u201cdelayed\u201d following the latter\u2019s defeat at the hands of China\u2019s Chen Long in the quarter-finals of the Tokyo Games. The three-time Olympic silver medallist is also of the opinion that in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":5598,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5597","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-local-news"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5597"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5597\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5599,"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5597\/revisions\/5599"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesseltontimes.com\/wpmarch2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}