THE BEST OF ASIA: LEE ZII JIA (MALAYSIA)
Lee Zii Jia, born in Kedah, Malaysia, is a Malaysian badminton player. He is currently ranked #10 on BWF’s World Ranking in Men’s Singles. He has 157 career wins so far.
Lee has been playing the sport since he was very young. He recalls, "When I was 6 years old, my dad brought me to a badminton club in Kedah, I started playing just for health reasons before improving better and better”.
He has been playing professional since he was 13 years old. In 2015, he became the junior champion in the Perak and Selangor Badminton Open. Because of his performances, it earned him a spot in the Badminton Association of Malaysia.
In 2016 at the World Junior Championships in Bilbao, Lee won a bronze medal for Boy’s singles, and a silver medal in the mixed team. He continued to earn more medals the following year. At the 2017 Southeast Asian Games, he won silver for the men’s team and in September, he won his first senior title at the Polish International, beating Soong Joo Ven in the final.
In 2018, at the semifinals of the Chinese Taipei Open, he defeated world #4 Chou Tien-chen to reach the finals. He went on to win the gold after defeating Riichi Takeshita to win his first BWF World Tour title and second international title overall. He saw greater success in 2019 when he won gold at the Southeast Asian Games.
When asked about his future sporting ambitions, Lee made it clear: to one day become an “Olympic Champion”. We hope he will achieve this feat and become Malaysia’s next rising star!
Every other week we will feature some of the best players from all around Asia, to highlight their amazing achievements in badminton. Follow us to keep you updated with the next stories!
