Lee Zii Jia - The phenomenal super-smasher which changed the badminton scene forever (Part 1)

#leeziijiabackhandsmash #leeziijia #supersmash #siuuuuu #thomascup2024
Lee Zii Jia is the latest darling in Malaysia and around the world. He is more synonyms for his super smash, and backhand smash. This is just phenomenal.
This man is more famous for his SIUU celebration, Zii Jia has more artistic talent (such as singing, song writing) than just playing sport. Zii Jia, who beat India's K. Srikanth 21-16, 21-11 in 2023 Sudirman Cup in China, was asked about his celebration on court, which resembled that of Ronaldo. He said: "Cristiano Ronaldo is one of my idols, a football legend no doubt." I did the celebration (siuuu) because it's quite similar to our team cheer. Ronaldo is also a huge inspiration to all of us athletes, not just footballers."
SIU was first invented by Ronaldo, the legendary Portuguese footballer. As he hits the ground, Ronaldo outstretches his arms and bellows 'Siuuu', which is Spanish for 'yes', with fans often joining in to create a booming noise around the stadium.
Badminton first introduced to by his parents at the age of 6. Born to Chinese Malaysians family in Kedah, and the mother was a former basketball international. Like many of the badminton prodigies, the talented Zii Jia was soon drafted into the Bukit Jalil Sports School, at the age of 12.
Zii Jia had a colorful career in junior day’s becoming the junior champion in the Perak and Selangor Badminton Open, in the year 2015. These standout performances and wins in the international circuit earned him a place in the Badminton Association of Malaysia. In November 2016, Zii Jia won a bronze medal in the World Junior Championships after losing to Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo in the semifinals. Chico however lost to Sun Fei Xiang in the final. Interestingly, Chico and Zii Jia rival went on to the senior days. As of April 2024, Zii Jia had much better 5-1 head-to-head record.
In the team event, Zii Jia together with others Tang Jie, Jun Hao, and Wai Cheong, won the silver medal, losing only to China. It was held in Bilbao, Spain in November 2016.
2018 saw major breakthrough in the senior events. Lee reached the final of the Chinese Taipei Open by defeating the World No. 4 men's singles player, Chou Tien-chen in the semifinals. He defeated Riichi Takeshita in the final to win his first BWF World Tour title and second international title overall. In doing so, he became the second Malaysian other than Lee Chong Wei to win a BWF top flight men's singles title since 2013.
On 17 March 2020, Lee's fine performance at the All England Open saw his world ranking climbed to no. 10 for the first time. Finally in 2021, Lee won his first Super 1000 tournament at the All England Open, defeating the defending champion Viktor Axelsen by a nail-biting score of 30-29, 20-22, 21-9.
In January 2022, there were speculation that Lee intended to leave the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM), citing unhappiness with the association's demands and wanting more freedom as a player. He eventually resigned on 19 January 2022. In response, Lee was banned for two years from participating in any international tournaments that required BAM's approval as well as any Badminton World Federation (BWF)-sanctioned tournaments. With fellow players and the general public expressing dissatisfaction on BAM's decision, Lee appealed against the ban five days later. And the ban was lifted the next day, after high-level meeting with BAM.
He went through a period of slump losing early round tournaments, causing his ranking fell dramatically from as high as 2nd in the world on October 2022. Lee finally managed to overcome early exits in the 2023 BWF World Tour season and won his first title of the year at the 2023 Arctic Open, defeating fellow Malaysian Ng Tze Yong 21-14, 21-15 in the final. With all the hard work and recovering from his self-doubt, his current ranking is 11th in the world. as of April 2024. We wish him the best.