Zii Jia looking to Hendrawan's magical touch to lift his game

KUALA LUMPUR, July 9 (Bernama) -- Malaysia’s top men’s singles player Lee Zii Jia is hoping that the magical touch of coach Hendrawan can rub off on him in his quest to emulate the success of Datuk Lee Chong Wei.

The 21-year-old is looking to Hendrawan to strengthen his rallying game to add depth to his attacking play.

"I hope coach Hendrawan will share the kind of training and experience he imparted to Datuk Lee Chong Wei and maybe he can provide some special training for me.

"For me, Hendrawan was a good rally player while I'm a good attacker. I fall short in rallies, which is Hendrawan’s strong point.

"When the opponent manages to retrieve my shots, I will feel tired. I hope he can help me in that respect," he said when met at the Badminton Academy of Malaysia (ABM) in Bukit Kiara here today.

Zii Jia said apart from Hendrawan, he was also placing high hopes on two other coaches -- Datuk Misbun Sidek and Indra Wijaya -- to help him break into the world’s top 10 by the end of this year.

On Saturday, Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) president Datuk Seri Mohamad Norza Zakaria announced that Hendrawan has been given a new task to groom four young players into world beaters, to succeed the retired Chong Wei.

Besides Zii Jia, the 47-year-old former world champion is now also guiding Soong Joo Ven, Cheam June Wei and Lim Chong King in their bid to qualify for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

Misbun remains the men's singles chief coach and will train new talents such as Leong Jun Hao, Aidil Sholeh Ali Sadikin, Tan Jia Wei, Ng Tze Yong and other young players.

On his preparation for the Indonesian Open (July 16-21), Japan Open (July 23-28) and Thailand Open (July 30-Aug 4), Zii Jia said he is in good physical condition and hoped to do well after putting in two weeks of solid training.

-- BERNAMA