Up to Zii Jia whether to train with national squad, says BAM

 Tengku Zafrul Aziz said BAM had already decided to allow all independent players to hold joint training sessions at Akademi Badminton Malaysia.

Lee Zii Jia, ranked world No 58, was knocked out of the first round of the Vietnam Open earlier this week. (EPA Images pic)

KUALA LUMPUR:

The Badminton Association of Malaysia has yet to hear from independent singles professional Lee Zii Jia on whether he wants to resume training with the national team, BAM president Tengku Zafrul Aziz said.

He said BAM had no plans to hold a special meeting for that purpose and had also yet to receive any feedback from Zii Jia’s camp regarding a suggestion by national badminton legend Lee Chong Wei for Zii Jia to make use of BAM’s training facilities.

“We want to focus on the singles players we have now and also the juniors,” Tengku Zafrul said at a media conference after chairing the BAM council meeting here today.

He said the council had already decided to allow all independent players to hold joint training sessions at Akademi Badminton Malaysia (ABM) in the national interest, without requiring them to rejoin BAM.

“Not just for Zii Jia, but for all independent shuttlers. They are all welcome. They can join us at any time,” Tengku Zafrul said. He said Chong Wei came for training twice a week during the Thomas Cup. However, BAM could not force any professional player to train with the national squad, out of respect for the players’ independent status.

Ranked world No 58, Zii Jia recently suffered another setback after losing 8-21, 21-13, 14-21 to Taiwan’s Wu Zhe Ying in the first round of the 2026 Vietnam Open.

Chong Wei later told the media that he believed Zii Jia could regain his form through a more structured training programme, better quality sparring sessions and a strong support system at ABM. - FMT