Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia is the new All England badminton champion

KUALA LUMPUR, March 22 — Malaysia’s men’s singles champion Lee Zii Jia made the country proud as he fought his way to winning the All England badminton championship Sunday night in Birmingham, UK. 

The 22-year-old win of badminton’s oldest competition last night in Birmingham has buried the nightmares he suffered in Bangkok to once again put him back on track as the nation’s next big hope the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) said in its statement on its Facebook Sunday. 

“It was a very tight game until 30-29. Similarly in the second set, we had to focus on every point. We can’t be complacent even for a moment because the opponent will take chances if they are complacent,” BAM quoted Lee Zii Jia saying.

The win also ended the 4-year wait of an All England champion following Datuk Lee Chong Wei’s victory in 2017. 

Zii Jia also became the sixth player to win this championship with his sweetest moment being his win over Japan’s ace player Kento Momota in the quarterfinals. 

–WE