KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 19 —National men’s top singles player, Lee Zii Jia can expect intense challenges in his effort to create history as the first Malaysian player to lift the World Championships scheduled in Tokyo, Japan from August 22 to 28.

However, former national men’s singles shuttler, Roslin Hashim said Zii Jia’s sacrifice in withdrawing from the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games to fully focus on training for the prestigious tournament is considered worth it if he qualifies for the final in Japan.

"Only Zii Jia knows why he withdrew from the Commonwealth Games recently, nonetheless, he needs to deliver results in Japan, personally for him, entering the final would be okay,” he said when contacted by Bernama today.

Even though the 2021 All England champion was criticised for not joining the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, Roslin said the matter is inevitable as he believed Zii Jia would still face criticism despite winning the World Championships title after this.

Asked who would be the nemesis threatening Zii Jia in Japan, Roslin said the main challenge of a professional player is himself in the effort to prove his capability at the championships in Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.

Therefore, Roslin hopes the world’s number five player would train hard and be 100 per cent ready especially psychologically to clash with all the leading challengers there.

"It is not only Zii Jia, in fact for most other top players, the biggest foe is also themselves. Zii Jia and the others have the experience and have gone through various pressure at the highest level before so all would depend on themselves to counter any problems,” he said.

In this regard, national badminton legend, Datuk James Selvaraj is optimistic that Zii Jia has a good chance to shine compared to other Malaysian participants, namely Liew Daren and Ng Tze Yong at the tournament.

However, James admitted looking forward to seeing Zii Jia’s performance as he was willing to let go of a golden opportunity at the Commonwealth Games.

"I just hope Zii Jia prepares and does well in the World Championships because he has a good chance of winning the men’s singles gold in the Commonwealth Games but he withdrew to concentrate on the action in Japan.

Fifth seed Zii Jia is scheduled to meet unseeded player, Brice Leverdez of France in the first round.

However, Daren has been drawn to meet world number one player, Viktor Axelsen of Denmark while Tze Yong would square off with Malaysia Masters 2022 champion, Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo of Indonesia. — Bernama