Thomas Cup: Zii Jia Urges Team To Stay Mentally Strong

From Amiril Muttaqien Meketar

HORSENS (Denmark), April 30 (Bernama) -- Professional men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia has urged his teammates to remain mentally strong ahead of the Thomas Cup 2026 quarter-finals at Forum Horsens here tomorrow.

He said mental resilience will be crucial with the quarter-finals set to be more challenging than the group stage.

“Mental strength is very important. Team events are never easy, you may win matches, but losing at crucial moments can affect a player’s confidence.

“I hope my teammates, whether they win or lose, will stay strong mentally,” he told reporters here.

The world No. 82 had earlier delivered Malaysia’s second point in their narrow 2-3 defeat to 2014 champions Japan in their final Group B tie yesterday.

Zii Jia secured a straight-sets win over world No. 20 Koki Watanabe, 21-13, 21-19, in 41 minutes, thus ending a run of three consecutive defeats to the Japanese shuttler.

Despite the loss to Japan, the 28-year-old remains optimistic that the national squad will bounce back stronger in the knockout stage.

The result not only confirmed Japan’s progress to the quarter-finals as Group B champions, but also avenged their defeats to Malaysia in the previous two editions in Bangkok 2022 and Chengdu 2024.

Malaysia had earlier beaten England 3-2 and Finland 4-1 to advance to the quarter-finals as Group B runners-up.

The knockout stage draw takes place at 10.30 am today (4.30 pm Malaysian time).

The Thomas Cup 2026, which began on April 24, will run until May 3.

-- BERNAMA