Lee Zii Jia and men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik were nominated by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) for the Most Improved Player award, while Cheah Liek Hou made the Male Para Badminton Player of The Year shortlist.

Lee, who jumped up a spot to seventh on the world rankings, made the shortlist after winning the All-England title in March, a run which saw him beat the top two shuttlers in Kento Momota and Viktor Axelsen en route to victory.

The lanky shuttler also made the Hylo Open final before retiring through a back injury.

Lee’s performance drastically improved after a poor start to the year where he crashed out in the early rounds of the Asian leg in Thailand in January.

As for Chia-Soh, their gallant run at the Tokyo Olympics earned them this nomination alongside Lee, Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand and Tokyo Olympics gold medalists Wang Chi-lin-Lee Yang.

The world number eight pair had beaten the top pairs in the world in Marcus Fernaldi Gideon-Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo to the podium where they bagged the bronze medal.

Besides that, Chia-Soh also made the Thailand Open 2 final.

Cheah's Tokyo Paralympics gold medal put him as a hot favourite to win the Male Para Badminton Player of The Year award.

Even before heading to Tokyo, Cheah was unbeaten in 31-matches dating back to 2019.

The 33-year-old saw a career revival since teaming up with Rashid Sidek,training with able bodied and junior shuttlers.

The Male Player of the Year nomination meanwhile included the likes of Anders Antonsen, Viktor Axelsen, Wang Yi Lyu and Yuta Watanabe, while as the women Chen Yu Fei, Carolina Marin, Tai Tzu Ying and Akane Yamaguchi were among the shortlist.

The Eddy Choong Most Promising Player nominees included Line Christophersen, Toma Junior Popov, Kuvalut Vitidsarn and Brian Yang.

The winners would be announced at the Bali Leg in Indonesia this month.