THE waiting game is over for Lee Zii Jia as the All England champion gets ready to lead the line in Malaysia's fight for a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
World No 8 Zii Jia has emerged as Malaysia's golden prospect at the Olympics after winning the All England in March and is in good spirits since arriving in Tokyo on Sunday.
And the 23-year-old is all fired up for the challenge after getting the honour of becoming Malaysia's male flag bearer at yesterday's opening ceremony at Tokyo Olympic Stadium.
Whilst excited to lead the nation out at the Games, the Kedahan's focus is ultimately on leaving up to Malaysians' expectations.
Zii Jia, who is drawn in Group M alongside France's Brice Leverdez and Ukraine's Ukraine's Artem Pochtarov. said: "This is my first Olympics and I definitely want to enjoy the moment. The venue and atmosphere will be special.
"I believe it's a pretty open affair and everybody has a chance to win gold.
"I will not underestimate anyone
because there is potential for upsets when the competition gets underway.
"Having no fans in the stadium will make it a lot more challenging, but it is the same for everyone. We will just have to deal with it."
Although Zii Jia was involved in the opening ceremony, he will still have two full days of rest, as he is only scheduled to play on Sunday.
He opens his campaign against Pochtarov tomorrow before meeting Leverdez in what could be a crucial match on July 28. Only the group winner proceeds to the knockout stage, where Zii Jia is expected to face reigning Olympic champion Chen Long of China in the second round.
The Malaysians who will be in action today are men's pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik and women's pair Chow Mei Kuan-Lee Meng Yean.
World No 9 Aaron-Wooi Yik will face South Korea's Choi Solgyu-Seo Seung Jae while World No 11 Mei Kuan-Meng Yean meet Indonesian rivals Greysia Polii-Apriyani Rahayu on the opening day of the
preliminaries.