Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia Badminton Ace Lee Zii Jia, ranked seventh in the world, is Friday prohibited from the tournament for two years as a punishment because it stops independently.
Lee has been detained as the heir of Malaysian legend Lee Chong Wei, up quickly rises and scored a breakthrough victory in the prestigious England last year.
After some bad performances in the past few months, including the Olympics, the Malaysian Badminton Association (BAM) was revealed this week he had withdrew from the body and wanted to play as independent.
But the association refused to support the movement, instead of deciding to punish him with a ban on two years from all tournaments agreed by the World Government Agency The Badminton World Federation (BWF).
BWF sanctioned most tournaments on the Badminton calendar, and the association of each country is responsible for registering the players – which means that Malaysia’s body can effectively prevent Lee from competing.
Bam said the 23-year-old child quoted “pressure on the national side” and “lifestyle set” at the Badminton Malaysia Academy as a reason to stop.
The body tried to persuade him to stay during the conversation but finally decided that they could not agree to his demands, which included having a coach team and his own support staff.
“Obviously we felt very sad” about Lee’s decision, vice-president Bam Jahaberdeen Mohamed Yunoos told reporters, adding it to influence the body’s training and financial programs.
But he added players to be interesting to return.
Lee, was previously seen as one of the best hopes of Malaysia to win the first Olympic gold medal in the country, has not commented in public because the news appeared he cut bonds with bam.
The world number one Viktor Axelsen from Denmark earlier this week voiced support for Lee’s decision to go independently, tweeted that “this is his career and life”.
BWF has not commented specifically in the case of Lee.
But in Thursday’s statement, the Secretary General of Thomas Lund recorded a precedent of independent players and the Association of State Members who reached an agreement where the association submitted entries into the tournament for the players.
Badminton is one of the few sports where Malaysia performs well internationally.
The three-time Olympic silver medal Lee Chong Wei, who retired in 2019, was one of the biggest players of his generation.