NETIZENS have applauded Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh for her meaningful “Chinese New Year makan moments” with national badminton men singles’ ace Lee Zii Jia whose performance has been below par in recent times.
“This is our first time meeting each other. Wonderful to know he is a resident of Segambut,” the Segambut MP penned in a Facebook post. “Wishing him a good year in badminton. I want to do my best for all athletes representing Malaysia.”
Jagdev Singh hailed Yeoh of going out of her way to motivate Zii Jia especially “after his recent lean streak”.
“He looks rather skinny nowadays. I’d love to invite him to my hometown, Klang and belanja (treat) him BKT (bah kut teh or pork rib soup) so he can be stronger for his battles ahead. Lots of love and luck to the both of you.”
With the Paris Olympics 2024 around the corner, Edward Wong Hoong Kai We hopes that Yeoh can try her best to convince a coach-less Zii Jia “to come back to our National Team”.
“LZJ is a young, passionate & potential athlete. However, recently his performances in several matches did not meet the expectation,” observed the netizen. “At least the National Team is the better platform for him. He really needs comprehensive training and the best coach to guide him. Wishing LZJ all the best.”
Hairil HiPs also concurred that Zii Jia is one of Malaysia’s potential medallists at the next Olympics in France. “(His) talent and power are already there; just mentally, he needs more polishing to be successful”.
Deeming what Yeoh did as a “good start”, Pauline Lee suggested that Zii Jia needs lots of mentoring.
“He has a lot of potential that’s been wasted this last two years. We want to support him as Malaysians and see him win an international title for our country,” she shared. “The Olympics and World Championship is within his reach if he is properly coached and mentored. Please help him YB.”
Sunil Peter Seven pleaded with Yeoh to persuade Zii Jia to return to national badminton umbrella body, the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) while “at the same time sort out the conundrum that is BAM”.
Last but not least, Nigel Tan Ypg proposed that Yeoh should catch up with more independent shuttlers in the country.
“It is not easy for them to be independent player with everything self-managed yet need to focus on training and tournaments, I think they
have very interesting story why they choose to be independent players,” added the netizen. – Feb 2, 2023
