Lee Zii Jia‘s stay at the 2025 BWF World Championships was a short one.
Playing in the Adidas Arena in Paris, where just over a year ago the shuttler won an Olympic bronze medal, Lee suffered a 41-minute straight-games defeat (17–21, 11–21) on Monday (25 August) at the hand of Republic of Korea’s Jeon Hyeok-jin.
But, the way Lee moved around freely on court and threw himself into dives to try to save points, one might not realise he is fresh off the back of a major ankle injury which has seen him miss five months of action and limited him to just two tournaments all year.
“The first priority was to get injury-free and I think I did it,” Lee told Olympics.com after his match. “For now, I can [be] 100 per cent sure that my injury is healed.”
Lee managed to stick with Jeon well in the first game, playing a few nice-looking smashes while testing his ankle. However, Jeon asserted his dominance in the second and managed to pull away.
While the Malaysian had said before the tournament he was not setting himself any goals, he admitted that a first-round exit still hurt. “Definitely [disappointed]. I have to try to accept the situation which I have been away for five months, and it’s not easy to come back here to the same level as I have [been before].
“The upcoming [plan] is Hong Kong [Open] and the China Masters as well, it’s back-to-back tournaments and definitely I have to prepare [to be] more ready.
“I think the priority is to get back the tournament feeling and also the level that I used to be at.”