Badminton

Not affected at all by Zii Jia's absence

BIRMINGHAM: No Lee Zii Jia, no problem.

The national badminton team showed they can still produce good results in team competitions without world No 5 Lee Zii Jia.

Zii Jia withdrew from the Commonwealth Games squad to focus on this month's World Championships.

And his absence saw the BA of Malaysia (BAM) lowering their target from two gold medals to one for the Games.

It sparked controversy as netizens criticised BAM for relying on just one player to bring glory to the nation.

However, BAM silenced their critics in style when their young shuttlers won the mixed team gold in Birmingham with a 3-1 win over an experienced India on Tuesday.

Zii Jia's absence has turned out to be a blessing and now the national shuttlers can look forward to another memorable outing in the individual events.

In the final, 22-year-old Ng Tze Yong was the star of the team when he defeated World Championships silver medallist K. Srikanth 21-19, 6-21, 21-16, which turned out to be crucial in Malaysia's victory.

No one thought Tze Yong would beat Srikanth, to whom he had lost in two previous meetings.

The win probably shows that Tze Yong is growing into a great shuttler.

Last month, the world No 42 defeated two top-15 ranked players in Angus Ng Ka Long and Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong en route to the Singapore Open quarter-finals.

With a gold in the bag, Tze Yong will definitely fancy his chances in the men's singles competition.

However, he has a tough draw with possible clashes with reigning world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore and Srikanth in the quarter-finals and semi-finals.

BAM coaching director Wong Choong Hann said Tze Yong's win over Srikanth will put him in good stead for the men's singles event.

"Although tough on paper, we actually thought that he had a slim chance against Srikanth," said Choong Hann.

"The desire to win shown by Tze Yong led to a good start in the match, and more importantly, he managed to keep it until the end.

"Let's hope he carries the same momentum into the individual competition next and continue trending on the upward trajectory."

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