KUALA LUMPUR, April 29 — Although he no longer leads the national squad, the country’s number one singles player Lee Zii Jia is still the anchor for determining Malaysia’s success in the 2022 Thomas Cup campaign in Bangkok, Thailand, next month.

Sports analyst Pekan Ramli said the first point from Zii Jia in the tournament held at the Impact Arena from May 8 to 15 would be very important in inspiring the rest of his teammates.

However, Pekan admitted that he was worried about the current performance of the world number seven, who had yet to reach his best level since winning the 2021 All England Championship in Birmingham, United Kingdom, last year.

"Previously, we used to have Datuk Lee Chong Wei as the main singles player, and other players can look up to him and then get ready to find the next point.

"However, for Zii Jia, I imagine other players have to be prepared for various possibilities,” he said when contacted by Bernama.

Pekan opined that the player who captained the team in the last Thomas Cup in Aarhus, Denmark, had lost his touch since leaving the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) to continue his career as a professional player in January.

At the same time, he said he expected the 24-year-old to improve his level of play and "kill off” his opponent in straight sets, after multiple ‘rubber set’ games of late.

Meanwhile, Pekan, who is also the head of the Sports Section at the Ministry of Higher Education said the performance of other key singles players in the national squad was also less convincing compared to the doubles camp.

"Of the five singles players called up, sorry to say, for me, we can’t expect too much from Liew Daren (to contribute points) but I’m sure Ng Tze Yong can be our secret weapon,” he said.

The other two players who have joined the final line-up of the national singles squad are Aidil Sholeh Ali Sadikin and Leong Jun Hao.

On the doubles team, Pekan said he was optimistic that the return of doubles expert, Rexy Mainaky to BAM since the end of last year would be able to boost the performance of the squad to contribute points for Malaysia.

He said Rexy, who is also BAM’s Doubles Coaching director, had proved his magical touch when guiding Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani to win their first World Tour title at the 2022 German Open, last month.

"Besides that, even though Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi are listed as a professional duo, I believe Rexy is able to provide useful guidance to both of them to come up with the best performance in Bangkok,” he said.

Also in the doubles line-up are team captain Aaron Chia and his partner Soh Wooi Yik as the main pairing, besides backup player Chia Weijie.

Malaysia have been drawn alongside the 2014 champions Japan, who are also the second seeds, England and New Zealand in Group D of the championship.

Meanwhile, Pekan said he felt that the 2022 Uber Cup squad would face an uphill task in the competition.

He said the huge gap between the Malaysians and the other two teams in Group C, namely the host team and Denmark, would make it difficult for the country to advance to the quarterfinals, but he was confident that they would not face any problems overcoming Egypt. — Bernama