Malaysian Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh confirmed Lee Zii Jia’s inclusion for the newly launched Road To Gold (RTG) programme after meeting the independent shuttler on Saturday.
“Zii Jia supports the RTG initiative and is thankful to be included in this national project. Zii Jia told me he really wants that first gold medal in Paris 2024 for the country. This is what I want to hear from our athletes, it starts with that desire for gold.
“Our RTG coordinator Stuart [Ramalingam] will further discuss with Zii Jia’s agent the details of his commitment to RTG which will include coaching and sparring coordination. Let’s get to work,” Yeoh said.
This made Lee the first athlete to confirm his interest in the “top-up” initiative created to propel Malaysia to its maiden gold medal at the Olympics.
The RTG serves as an enhancement initiative to the existing Podium Programme for the national athletes.
On Friday, Yeoh announced a 15-athlete shortlist for the RTG mainly comprising of national and independent shuttlers.
Besides Lee, the shuttlers were Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik (men’s doubles), Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi (men’s doubles), Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah (women’s doubles), Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing (mixed doubles) and Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai (mixed doubles).
The other four athletes were Azizulhasni Awang (cycling), Shah Firdaus (cycling) Pandelela Rinong (diving) and Nur Dhabitah Sabri (diving).
Yeoh explained the selections were based on two criterias – athletes who won a medal at the Tokyo Olympics and those currently in the world top 10.
Stuart and other prominent ex-national athletes such as Lee Chong Wei, Nicol David and Mirnawan Nawawi will meet the rest of the selected athletes soon.
There could be more elite national athletes joining the RTG fold if they can achieve a top 10 rank in their respective fields.
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