i think .. no matter how disappointed we are with his performance, this is the time we should give him the most support. He needs our love more than ever now. I dont think we should give up on him. He still has a lot to give. A top player going into a slump is not unprecedented.
Go ahead, seek help R. KIRUBASHINI PETALING JAYA: Seek help from a sports psychologist or mental trainer to become better. And don’t quit! This is the advice given by former two-time national women’s singles champion Ng Mee Fen and former men’s singles great Datuk James Selvaraj to independent shuttler Lee Zii Jia. Zii Jia is down in the dumps after losing to Taiwan’s world No. 49 Lee Chia-hao 21-15, 20-22, 21-23 in the men’s singles second round of the German Open in Mulheim on Thursday. It must have been frustrating for him to lose as he had held a 20-16 lead in the second game before collapsing. And after the demoralising defeat, he posted “I’m... done” on his Instagram, which was expletive-laden to underline, understandably his utter frustration. His outburst and poor form has come at the worst moment with the prestigious All-England set to take place from March 14-19 in Birmingham. Many, however, think that Zii Jia have had enough of playing competitive badminton without a coach as the second round defeat in Germany was his fourth early round exit this year, having also lost in the Malaysian Open, Indian Open and Indonesian Masters. And an ongoing court case with his former coach Indra Wijaya, whom he had decided to part ways last November, could be an unwanted distraction. Mee Fen, who was a junior coach in the national team for four years, believes that Zii Jia may need support from a sports psychologist following his outburst on social media and had some words of encouragement. “I knew Zii Jia since he was 13 years-old when I was a junior coach in the national team,” said Mee Fen, who was handling the girls’ singles players. “I got to know Zii Jia and he had been through many challenges even at that time but managed to overcome them. “Now, it’s sad to see him become frustrated after losing narrowly many times. “I believe that he needs to get some support from a sports psychologist or mental trainer to overcome this,” said Mee Fen. On his poor form, Mee Fen, who is currently pursuing her Masters in Counselling said: “It’s normal for players to go through critical points or tests in their career. “Even former greats like Lee Chong Wei and China’s Lin Dan have been through tough times. “This is a challenging period for Zii Jia but I believe that if he is able to overcome this, he will definitely become a better player. “For now, he needs psychological maturity to be able to handle the pressure and to become more consistent. “He also needs to get a suitable coach to guide him,” added Mee Fen. Meanwhile, James hopes that Zii Jia will not give up on his career. “Looking at his post, he is really frustrated and angry after losing narrowly so many times,” he said. “But I hope he doesn’t quit playing because that will be a waste of his talent. “He needs to keep believing in himself,” added James. https://www.thestar.com.my/sport/badminton/2023/03/11/go-ahead-seek-help -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi BC (Yes.....im back ) Ng Mee Fen and Datuk James were spot on in their comments. For LZJ, talents alone wont guarantee him any success if he doesn't act fast now and clearly he is lost and need guidance. Mental and Psychological guidance particularly. Its very disappointing even from the perspective of fan to see his current performance but nothing is too late. However, regardless of how many advice given to LZJ from all the greats badminton players, if LZJ don't open his mind and heart for changes and continue to follow his own head then his slump will continue. Hope all will be good for him. I still have full believe that he can be our next World Champion. SS
@shooting stroke Nice to see you back. It’s always sad to see, not just a player, but any person go through a slump. Support and stability with good decision making is what he needs…. If he wants it.
Agree, it's all boils down to him alone. A lot of past great players has speak up to him advising him to seek proper help, but so far he has yet to do any of it. It's not he alone that feel frustrated of keep losing on such a close match, but most fans are frustrated as well cause most fans knows this isn't the same LZJ that won the All England and Asia Champ. I hope he don't decided on doing anything dumb like retiring at such a young age.
He really has to settle the court case first. His management team seems rather inexperienced though so it might not be swiftly resolved.
Hi management team consist of his sister and his father, so I really don't know how professional they could be.
Why would he get his family as his mgmt team instead of building a team with actual experience/proper professionals and legal advisors?
His team caused the whole case with Indra Wijaya, right? I heard it was because of communication gone wrong. LZJ seems to be in his own bubble, whether he wants to listen or not, it is all up to him.
First comment on this forum in 14 years.... Just seeing a trend Momota: Back in 2016 when he had his gambling scandal and subsequent ban, he was flashy with a lot of jewellery and bleached hair In his 2018 return, he came back with black hair, all lean and serious After Momota's 2020 injury: Lots of sponsorships and doing ad jobs for various sponsors on social media Started showing off cool clothes, dyed hair and his fashion on social media Started a YouTube account -> Early exits at tournaments Ok all good, it's his life and he can do what he wants Once again like 2018, he's back to his black hair now and no social media, and finally seeing better results in tournaments. Viktor Axelsen was also posting lots on YouTube when he was getting wrecked by Momota in 2018-2020 -> No more YouTube videos from Viktor, just tournament results Anders Antonsen also posts a lot of YouTube videos while dropping down from WR#2 to #18 Maybe Lee Zii Jia just needs to get off social media altogether and focus on training, to get the results he wants. It might only take up a couple of hours to work on each social media content instead of training, but perhaps at the top level it might be the difference between winning and losing. I can't say for sure because I'm not a pro
Agreed, only he himself can help him get out from this. Unless he's willing to open up and swallow his pride, it's hard for him to overcome this challenge.
He is totally on wrong side. Breaking the coach's contract, using different rackets apart from sponsored one and going independent at the crucial time when Paris olympics is approaching. Everything is wrong if you ask me. Please dont jump on me for saying this. Because, he could have postponed the idea of going independent until next year. So that , he need not worry about financial situations, coaches and fitness trainers, place to practice, sparring partners etc. Now, he has to do everything. Already he is in pressure . Now, his form is also not good .
Another sportstar going through a rough time. https://www.eurosport.com/tennis/wt...ery-content-without-it_sto9502110/story.shtml After her convincing straight-sets victory over Kovinic, Raducanu said: "After the AO [Australian Open] I deleted WhatsApp and Instagram off my phone, and after that, I've been living under my own little rock. "I felt like sometimes you go through patches where you just want to zone in on yourself, and I was very content with my life without it.
That's a bit far stretched for KM and VA as the first thing that could explain their bad results at the time mentioned is the injuries/accident, but overall I think social medias are a loss of time and most importantly, disconnect the user from reality. LZJ or AA are perfect examples imo. They might feel successful (showing their lifestyle, their sponsor collabs, etc) and they do get likes, views and followers ; something that might be perceived as a reward or a mark of success for them. But the reality is they are not some so called influencers but athletes, for who results are still a priority. They are fooling themselves with social media. It comforts then wrongly. Remove it and they will question their status in the sport. (And probably work harder to gain that status back with hard earnt results). Imo those 2 (AA and LZJ) should delete social media and focus on their training. And I'm not referring to the time spent on court or at the gym. I'm aware they do that. But there is no way mentally focusing on producing social media content is helping their athletic records to go up.
LZJ has all sorts of sponsorship and influencer deals, he even has a song out I think, its like he is more in the entertainment industry than a badminton player which is fine if thats the career path he chooses but i dun think he realizes it and doesn’t get why his results are suffering.
In Malaysia, badminton is very big. Thus many badminton athletes get many sponsorship deals whenever then make it big. Take LCW for example, during his prime, ads featuring his face was basically everywhere around Malaysia. Somehow this isn't very good to the athletes as they're required to also fulfill sponsor's requests instead of solely improve their badminton skills.
