Lee Zii Jia (, born 29 March 1998) is a Malaysian

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players pe ...

player. He was the men's singles gold medalist at the

2019 Southeast Asian Games The 2019 Southeast Asian Games, officially known as the 30th Southeast Asian Games, or the 30th SEA Games, and commonly known as Philippines 2019, was the 30th edition of the Southeast Asian Games, a biennial regional multi-sport event which ...

and won his first BWF Super 1000 title at the

2021 All England Open The 2021 All England Open (officially known as the Yonex All England Open Badminton Championships 2021 for sponsorship reasons) was a badminton tournament which took place at Utilita Arena Birmingham in England from 17 to 21 March 2021. It had a ...

. Lee is the reigning men's singles Asian champion, winning the title at the 2022 Badminton Asia Championships.

Early life

Lee Zii Jia was born in

Alor Setar Alor Setar ( Jawi: الور ستار, Kedahan: ''Loqstaq'') is the state capital of Kedah, Malaysia. It is the second-largest city in the state after Sungai Petani and one of the most-important cities on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia ...

Kedah Kedah (), also known by its honorific Darul Aman (Islam), Aman and historically as Queda, is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia, located in the northwestern part of Peninsular Malaysia. The state covers a total area ...

Chinese Malaysians Malaysian Chinese (; Malay: ''Orang Cina Malaysia''), alternatively Chinese Malaysians, are Malaysian citizens of Han Chinese descent. They form the second largest ethnic group after the Malay majority constituting 22.4% of the Malaysian p ...

Lee Chee Hin and Leow Siet Peng, teachers and former basketball internationals. He was first introduced to badminton by his parents at the age of 6. In his earlier years, he studied at Keat Hwa H Primary School in Alor Setar, Kedah. Due to his results in the under 12 competition, he was soon drafted into the

Bukit Jalil Sports School The Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS) ( ms, Sekolah Sukan Bukit Jalil, SSBJ) is the first sports school in Malaysia. The school is located at the National Sports Complex compound in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur. Sekolah Sukan Bukit Jalil was ope ...

Career

2015

In 2015, he became the junior champion in the Perak and Selangor Badminton Open. These standout performances and wins in the international circuit earned him a place in the

Badminton Association of Malaysia The Badminton Association of Malaysia or BAM ( Malay: ''Persatuan Badminton Malaysia'') is the governing body of badminton in Malaysia. The association was founded in 1964. Nevertheless, the history of Malaysian badminton starts much earlier. Alre ...

2016

In November 2016, Lee won a bronze medal in the World Junior Championships after losing to

Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo (born 15 June 1998) is an Indonesian professional badminton player. He was a World junior silver medalist in 2016 and Asian Championships bronze medalist in 2022. Dwi Wardoyo also part of Indonesia winning team at the 202 ...

in the semifinals. In the same month, he advanced to the final of India International Series but was defeated by

Lakshya Sen Lakshya Sen (born 16 August 2001) is an Indian badminton player. Sen is a former world junior no. 1. He has won gold medals at the 2018 Asian Junior Championships in the boys' singles and at the Summer Youth Olympics in the mixed team event. H ...

2017

In February 2017, Lee reached the semifinals of the

Thailand Masters The Thailand Masters was a professional snooker tournament. Previously known as Asian Open and Thailand Open, it was a ranking tournament from 1989/90 to 2001/02. An event called the ''Thailand Masters'' also formed part of the ''World Series'' i ...

, where he lost to

Kantaphon Wangcharoen Kantaphon Wangcharoen ( th, กันตภณ หวังเจริญ; born 18 September 1998) is a Thai badminton player. At the young age, Wangcharoen became the runner-up in the senior tournament 2014 Singapore International in the men's ...

. In September 2017, he won his first senior title at the

Polish International The Polish International in badminton is an international open held in Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area ...

, against

Soong Joo Ven Soong Joo Ven (; born 19 May 1995) is a Malaysian badminton player. He was part of the Malaysian team that won gold in the 2011 BWF World Junior Championships mixed team event. Career 2011-2017 He won silver medal at the 2012 Asia Junior ...

in the final. In November 2017, Lee reached the semifinals of the

Bitburger Open The Hylo Open, formerly known as the BMW Badminton Cup, BMW Open, Bitburger Masters, Bitburger Open and SaarLorLux Open, is an international badminton tournament held at the Saarlandhalle in Saarbrücken, Germany, since 1988. It was sponsored by th ...

2018

In October 2018, Lee reached the final of the

Chinese Taipei Open The Taipei Open, formerly named the Chinese Taipei Open Grand Prix Gold (2007–2017) and Chinese Taipei Open (2018–2019), is an open badminton international championships held in Taiwan since the 1970s, but they took place only in irregular pe ...

by defeating the World No. 4 men's singles player,

Chou Tien-chen Chou Tien-chen (Chinese: 周天成; born 8 January 1990) is a Taiwanese badminton player. He became the first local shuttler in 17 years to win the men's singles title of the Chinese Taipei Open in 2016 since Indonesian-born Fung Permadi won i ...

in the semifinals. He defeated

Riichi Takeshita is a Japanese badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and ...

in the final to win his first

BWF World Tour The BWF World Tour is a Grade 2 badminton tournament series, sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF). It is a competition open to the top world ranked players in singles (men's and women's) and doubles (men's, women's and mixed). The competi ...

title and second international title overall. In doing so, he became the second Malaysian other than

Lee Chong Wei Datuk Lee Chong Wei (; born 21 October 1982) is a Malaysian former badminton player. As a singles player, Lee was ranked first worldwide for 349 weeks, including a 199-week streak from 21 August 2008 to 14 June 2012. He is the fifth Mala ...

to win a BWF top flight men's singles title since 2013. Lee then reached the final of the

Korea Masters The Korea Masters is an international badminton tournament that usually held in November or December every year of BWF event calendar in South Korea. The total prize money in 2016 was US$120,000. Before 2010, the level of the tournament was an Inter ...

but lost to

Son Wan-ho Son Wan-ho (Hangul: 손완호; or ; born 17 May 1988) is a South Korean badminton player. He reached a career high as world number 1 in the men's singles in May 2017. He competed at the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics. He plays primarily defensive ...

2019

Lee started the 2019 season by competing in the

. He lost in the quarter finals to Brice Leverdez of France in straight games. In the next tournaments, he also finished in the quarter finals in Malaysia Masters,

Indonesia Masters The Indonesia Masters is an international badminton tournament in BWF World Tour Super 500 (Super 750 in 2021). Formerly known as the Indonesia Open Grand Prix Gold, it was first held in 2010 in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, and change its venue i ...

, and German Open. He later lost in the early stage of

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

, and Singapore Open's. He admitted that he had struggled to cope with financial difficulties, lack of progress and unfairness that affected his performance. In August, Lee finally managed to make it into the semi-finals in the Thailand Open, where he lost to

of Taiwan. This was nonetheless an improvement to his being a quarter finalist in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and Indonesia Open's. He qualified to compete in

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

in Basel, Switzerland, but lost to the World No. 1 men's singles player, and the eventual World Champion,

Kento Momota is a Japanese badminton player. He is known to have a skillful and relentless play style on court. He has won several major badminton tournaments including two World Championships titles, two Asian Championships titles, and one All England ...

of Japan in the quarter finals. In November, he was forced to retire in the second round of the China Open, and decided to withdraw as well from the next tournament in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

, due suffering from food poisoning and fever. Lee reached world No. 11 in the BWF World ranking on 12 November. In December, he won the men's singles gold medal at the

Southeast Asian Games The Southeast Asian Games, also known as the SEA Games, is a biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia. The games are under the regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation with supe ...

, and also helped the national men's team win the silver medal.

2020: Break Into Top 10 World Ranking

Lee opened the season by participating in Southeast Asian tours in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

, and

, with his best result being a semi-finalist in Malaysia, wherein he lost to the world number 1

in straight games. In February, he alongside Malaysia men's team, won the silver medal at the Asia Team Championships, during which time he was the national team captain He won 4 out of 5 matches in the Asia Team Championships, losing in the final match against

Anthony Sinisuka Ginting Anthony Sinisuka Ginting (; born October 20, 1996) is an Indonesian badminton player. He first rose to prominence when he won the bronze medal at the 2018 Asian Games. At the 2020 Olympics, he won bronze in the men's singles event. He became th ...

. Later in March, due to the outbreak of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

in Europe, the German Open was cancelled. Lee's next tournament was the All England Open, which was also be his debut at the tournament because his ranking was previously too low to qualify. He won against

Jonatan Christie Leonardus Jonatan Christie (born 15 September 1997) is an Indonesian badminton player specializing in the singles discipline affiliated with the Tangkas Specs club. He won the men's singles title at the 2017 Southeast Asian Games and at the 20 ...

, who had won in four previous matches. He continued this win streak against

Lu Guangzu Lu Guangzu (; born on 19 October 1996) is a Chinese badminton player. In 2018, Lu made into his first final at the Lingshui China Masters. Since then, he both won Australian Open and Canada Open's titles. Career 2022 Lu reached the final o ...

and the then-Olympic champion

Chen Long Chen Long (; ; born 18 January 1989), is a Chinese former professional badminton player. He is the 2016 Olympic champion, two-time World champion, and an Asian champion. Chen was a former World number 1, occupying the top men's singles ranki ...

. In the semi-finals, he lost to

Viktor Axelsen Viktor Axelsen (born 4 January 1994) is a Danish badminton player. He is the 2017 and 2022 World champion and the 2020 Olympic champion. He won the 2010 World Junior Championships, beating South Korea's Kang Ji-wook in the final to become the ...

. The match lasted for 73 minutes. Further, Lee's performance at the All England Open raised his world ranking to no. 10 on 17 March 2020.

2021: All England Open title

In March, Lee won his first Super 1000 tournament at the All England Open, defeating the defending champion

by a score of 30–29, 20–22, 21–9. In July 2021, in the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, Lee took part in the men's singles and won against Artem Pochtarov with a score of 21–5 and 21–11. In the subsequent match against Brice Leverdez, he won with a score of 21–17 and 21–5. Lee was eliminated in the round of 16, where he was defeated by

with a score of 21–8, 19–21, and 5–21. On 7 November 2021, Lee reached the final of

Hylo Open The Hylo Open, formerly known as the BMW Badminton Cup, BMW Open, Bitburger Masters, Bitburger Open and SaarLorLux Open, is an international badminton tournament held at the Saarlandhalle in Saarbrücken, Germany, since 1988. It was sponsored by th ...

, however Lee had to retire due to the injuries he sustained while playing against Singapore's

Loh Kean Yew Loh Kean Yew (; born 26 June 1997) is a Singaporean badminton player. He is the former men's singles world champion, winning the title at the 2021 BWF World Championships, becoming the first Singaporean to achieve this feat. Born in Penang, Ma ...

with a score of 21–19, 13–21, 12–17.

2022: Leaving BAM and subsequent ban, Asian champion

In January 2022, there were speculation that Lee had indicated his intention to leave the

(BAM), citing unhappiness with the association, though reasons were never disclosed. He eventually officially resigned on 19 January. In response, Lee was banned for two years from participating in any international tournaments that required BAM's approval as well as any Badminton World Federation (BWF)–sanctioned tournaments. With the public and international players responding negatively on the ban, Lee appealed against the ban on 24 January 2022. The ban was lifted after Lee and BAM met on 25 January 2022, with the terms yet to be revealed. In May, Lee won his first title of the year, the 2022 Badminton Asia Championships, defeating Indonesia's

21–17, 23–21 in straight sets. Lee became the sixth Malaysian men's singles player to win the Asian Championships title. On 22 May 2022, Lee won his first

Super 500 title at the 2022 Thailand Open, defeating China's

Li Shifeng Li Shifeng (; born 9 January 2000) is a Chinese badminton player. He started playing badminton when he was 6 years old, getting support from his father. Li then practiced in the Jiangxi team when he was in the elementary school, after that went ...

with a rubber set score of 17–21, 21–11, 23–21 in 70 minutes. In June, Lee participated in 3 events: the

, the Indonesia Open and the Malaysia Open, his home event. At the Indonesia Masters, Lee, the 5th seed, lost to the 4th seeded

in the quarter-finals in 3 games, 21–18, 15–21, 16–21. A week later, Lee lost to

, the World No 1 at the Indonesia Open semi-finals, with a score of 21–19, 11–21, 21–23 in 70 minutes. In late June, Lee took part in the Malaysia Open as the 5th seed. He surprisingly lost to Indonesia's

Shesar Hiren Rhustavito Shesar Hiren Rhustavito (born 3 March 1994) is an Indonesian badminton player who affiliate with Djarum club. He won four consecutives Indonesia International tournament, two times at the USM International in Semarang, and two times at the Victo ...

in the Round of 16 in 3 games, 19–21, 21–19, 16–21 in an hour and six minutes. Claiming injury, he decided to skip the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

and focus on the upcoming World Championships which would be held in August. As the fifth seed in

, he lost to China's shuttler

Zhao Junpeng Zhao Junpeng (, born 2 February 1996) is a Chinese badminton player. In 2016 and 2017, he became the runner-up at the China International Challenge tournament in the men's singles event. He won his first senior international title at the 2016 ...

in the third round in three games, with a match score of 19–21, 21–11, 19–21. The match lasted for an hour and five minutes. A week later, Lee lost to

Srikanth Kidambi Srikanth Kidambi (born 7 February 1993) is an Indian badminton player. A former world no. 1, Kidambi was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award, in 2018. and the Arjuna award in 2015. In 2021, he became the first Indian t ...

, the Former World No 1 at the first round of Japan Open, with a score of 20–22, 21-23 in 38 minutes. On October 2022, Lee defeated former World Champion

of Singapore, with a score of 21-18, 21-15 in 40 minutes and reached the

Denmark Open The Denmark Open, or formerly known as Danish Open, is an annual badminton tournament held in Denmark and organized by Badminton Denmark. The Denmark Open was part of the BWF Super Series Premier from 2011 to 2017. BWF categorised it as one o ...

final before losing to

Shi Yuqi Shi Yuqi (; Mandarin pronunciation: ; born 28 February 1996) is a Chinese badminton player. Shi Yuqi won his first Superseries title in the 2016 French Open. At the 2017 All England Open, he defeated 6-time champion Lin Dan to reach the final, a ...

from China, with a score of 18-21, 21-16, 12-21 in 64 minutes. A few days later, Lee as 3rd seed in

French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...

, was surprised with another defeat at the first round, with a score of 18-21, 19-21 to the same opponent,

from Indonesia that defeated him back in Malaysia open earlier in June.

Australia Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. ...

was Lee's last hope of securing a final spot in the World Tour Finals. However, things did not go his way as one of his hands suffered a minor injury during the third game and suffered a loss of 22-20, 15-21, 16-21 to Lu Guang Zu from China in 70 minutes. His loss ended the last hope when his opponent went on to secure the final spot in the World Tour Finals. 2022 was a year of ups and down for Lee, as inconsistency was the main issue that led to his poor performance results in the second half of the year. On the bright side of it, Lee's achievement after leaving BAM has also shown his capability and determination to be a more consistent player in years to come.

2023

Lee opened the 2023 season on his home ground, the Malaysia Open, but was defeated in the first round by Japanese new rising player

Kodai Naraoka is Japanese badminton player from Aomori. He started playing badminton at the age of 5 with the influence of his father. Naraoka represented his country competed at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina, won the bronze meda ...

. In the following week, he reached the second round of India Open, but defeated by Chinese player

. He competed in Indonesia Masters but lost in the second round from Hong Kong player

Ng Ka Long Angus Ng Ka-long (born 24 June 1994) is a badminton player from Hong Kong. He has a career-high ranking of 6th in the men's singles discipline. He won the 2016 Hong Kong Super Series and the 2020 Thailand Masters. Early life and education ...

Achievements

Asian Championships

''Men's singles''

Southeast Asian Games

''Men's singles''

BWF World Junior Championships

''Boys' singles''

BWF World Tour (3 titles, 3 runners-up)

The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018, is a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). The BWF World Tour is divided into levels of World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300, and the BWF Tour Super 100. ''Men's singles''

BWF International Challenge/Series (1 title, 1 runner-up)

''Men's singles'' : BWF International Challenge tournament : BWF International Series tournament

Performance timeline

National team

* ''Junior level'' * ''Senior level''

Individual competitions

* ''Junior level'' * ''Senior level''

Record against selected opponents

Record against Year-end Finals finalists, World Championships semi-finalists, and Olympic quarter-finalists. Accurate as of 28 October 2022.

Awards and recognition

Order

* : ** Companion of the Ahli Cemerlang Semangat Jerai Kedah (ASK) (2022)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Zii Jia 1998 births Living people People from Kedah Malaysian sportspeople of Chinese descent Malaysian people of Hokkien descent Malaysian people of Chinese descent Malaysian male badminton players Badminton players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic badminton players of Malaysia Badminton players at the 2018 Asian Games Asian Games competitors for Malaysia Competitors at the 2017 Southeast Asian Games Competitors at the 2019 Southeast Asian Games Southeast Asian Games gold medalists for Malaysia Southeast Asian Games silver medalists for Malaysia Southeast Asian Games medalists in badminton