The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) will not put unnecessary pressure on Lee Zii Jia to deliver gold at the Tokyo Olympics. The 23-year-old has fired up the expectations of fans last month by unexpectedly winning the All England men’s singles title.
However, BAM president Tan Sri Norza Zakaria yesterday stressed that their plan has always been for Zii Jia to deliver at the 2024 Olympics.
So, Norza is playing down the talk of Malaysia gunning for gold at the Tokyo Olympics.
BAM launched their “Wall of Champions” at the Academy Badminton of Malaysia yesterday to commemorate the feats of Zii Jia and women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah.
“This is also a move that is aimed to spur confidence and motivation as well as to encourage humility so that players can produce the much-needed consistency,” added Norza.
Besides having their names and pictures framed up on the wall, Zii Jia and Pearly-Thinaah also received a monetary bonus from BAM.
For his All England feat, Zii Jia received RM30,000 while Pearly-Thinaah pocketed RM15,000.