Badminton News: Former great Lee Chong Wei may not be able to coach Lee Zii Jia, but he intends to do one thing: be his motivator.
And yesterday, three-time Olympic silver medalist Lee Chong Wei provided timely support for his successor as he encouraged Zii Jia to find a way to regain his confidence and bounce back from a tough time in his career.
Lee Zii Jia, 24, suffered frustrating defeats early in the season after falling in the early rounds of the Malaysian Open, Indian Open and Indonesian Masters without a coach to guide him.
And to add to the pain, news has emerged that the world number 4 player’s farewell to coach Indra Wijaya has ended on a sour note.
Lee Chong Wei said he didn’t want Zii Jia to lead the way Japan’s Kento Momota led.
The double world champion is no longer the same player since the car accident in Malaysia in 2020 and after losing early at home during the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
“Momota is struggling to regain his confidence and I don’t want another good player like Zii Jia to go through the same thing,” Chong Wei said.
“I know Zii Jia is going through a tough time right now, but he has my full support,” Chong Wei said.
Chong Wei knows what it’s like to be in the deep hole, having overcome career lows such as injuries, doping issues and cancer.
“I’ve been there…it can be lonely and easy to lose focus,” he says.
“I want to see Zii Jia do well and all the other ex-players too. We want the best for him and to see him make the country proud. I want to encourage him to put all the defeats of the previous round behind him and start all over again. , especially with the Olympic qualifying season so close.”
“I don’t know what happened between him and his former coach (Indra) but first he needs to sort out all the outside distractions that might affect his performance on the pitch. I just hope he doesn’t lose no point in playing.”
Chong Wei, however, showed the importance of having a coach.
“I trained with many coaches. The national body will select the coach and the players will follow whatever that coach brings. If I feel the need for additional training or program changes, I will discuss it with the coach,” he said.
“I agree that players do most of the work in training but you can’t do that without a coach. Even the biggest stars in tennis have coaches… and it’s the same for all sports Coaches can also be good motivators and they are good at analyzing games,” he added.
When asked if Lee Chong Wei would consider coaching Zii Jia, the 12-time Malaysian Open champion laughed and joked, “Right now, all I can do is motivate him. to achieve greatness. He can.”
Article tags: lee chong wei, Lee Ziijia, Indra Wijaya
Published by Ligaolahraga.com at https://www.ligaolahraga.com/badminton/lee-chong-wei-ready-jadi-motivator-untuk-bangkitkan-performa-lee-zii-jia
