SHAH ALAM, Feb 18 — Local badminton fans will miss the opportunity to witness the nation’s top men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia in action in the final of the Badminton Asia Team Badminton Championships against China today, after the 2021 All England champion fell ill following his match against Japan yesterday.

Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM), through an official Instagram post, informed that Zii Jia had to be rested due to experiencing breathing difficulties caused by sinusitis.

"After yesterday’s match, Lee Zii Jia had breathing difficulties due to his sinus and was not able to fully recover for today’s match. GWS (get well soon) Zii Jia... show your support for our starting lineup,” said the post.

The national men’s team are just a step away from defending their title as they advanced to the BATC final today after defeating Japan 3-1 in the semifinals at the Setia City Convention Centre here yesterday.

Zii Jia contributed one valuable point in that tie by easily defeating Kenta Nishimoto, 21-18 and 21-15.

Zii Jia was previously rested during the quarterfinal tie against Singapore on Friday after reportedly experiencing the same issue following the group stage final tie against Taiwan on Thursday.

Meanwhile, national singles player Ng Tze Yong also had to withdraw from the quarterfinal tie against Singapore on Friday after he was believed to have suffered another back injury similar to the one he experienced during last month’s Malaysia Open.

Tze Yong only lasted about three minutes to record a 1-3 score against Jason Teh.

According to the latest match schedule released by the Badminton World Federation (BWF), Leong Jun Hao, currently ranked 38th in the world, will be fielded as the nation’s first singles player to face 16th-ranked Weng Hong Yang in the final.

Men’s world doubles champions of 2022, Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik, will face Xie Hao Nan-Zeng Wei Han, followed by the singles player Eogene Ewe (ranked 298th in the world) who will meet the winner of the 2023 Hangzhou China Challenge 2023, Lei Lan Xi.

National doubles pair Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzudin Rumsani will face Liu Yi-Ren Xiang Yu, while the national doubles player, Muhammad Haikal Nazri, will be Malaysia’s third singles player to compete against Wang Zheng Xing.

Muhammad Haikal is the partner of Choong Hon Jian and has previously won the title at the 2023 Syed Modi India International Badminton Championships. — Bernama