Kuala Lumpur: The men’s singles World No. 8 Lee Zii Jia admitted that he is currently searching for a coach who could help him qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Lee told Malaysian media that his sister, Lee Zii Yii – team manager for Team LZJ, has already started the search by holding discussions with several potential coaches.
“On behalf of my team, my sister has already met and discussed with several coaches, but I cannot reveal the name yet,” said Lee.
“We also know that not all coaches agree to come, my team also needs to understand the coach’s plans for me to qualify for the Olympics, because the qualification is very important to me,” added Lee.
The 2023 Sudirman Cup competition which will take place in Suzhou, China from May 14 to 21 will be the first tournament for Lee Zii Jia to collect qualifying points for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
According to Lee Zii Jia who won the Badminton Asia Championships last year, he does not rule out the possibility of appointing Liew Daren who announced his retirement last week as his coach if talks with other candidates are not successful.
After leaving the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) early last year, Lee was coached by Indra Wijaya before deciding to part ways with the coach from Indonesia in November last year.
In the meantime, he also hopes that the ‘Road to Gold’ (RTG) program could provide some help to him, especially in terms of coaching since Team LZJ is not too experienced in hiring a coach.
“Honestly, you can all see what my team lacks, such as getting a coach. I really hope that RTG can help us in regard to the coach. So far, we have only met and discussed, there is no plan yet,” concluded Lee.
