Zii Jia interviewed by fan who changed his life

Lee Zii Jia was recently interviewed by a fan who claimed the Malaysian men’s singles star “changed the direction of his life”.
Jack Zheng, who hails from Toronto, Canada, met his idol seven years since he started following him.

“I don’t know how many people have met their idol before, but the feeling is unmatched. Going from someone that I’ve only admired and looked up to on screen to someone that was standing beside me, I didn’t know how to feel. 

“He doesn’t even know me, but he changed the direction of my life. There’s so much that I want to write and say, but the one thing I want to say the most is Thank You. 

“For giving a kid from Toronto, Canada someone to look up to. I don’t know if he’ll remember me, he meets thousands of fans each year. But I will remember this moment for the rest of my life,” said Zheng, who interviewed Lee after his defeat at the Canada Open last week.
Lee was in good spirits despite crashing out of the Canada Open semi-finals.

The world number 60 fell to a 13-21, 21-18, 18-21 defeat against Japan’s Riki Takei, despite holding a 16-13 lead in the deciding match. 
Despite the defeat, Lee has shown improvement in terms of results. He crashed out in the opening round of the Macao Open before reaching the second round of the U.S. Open, and has now made his first semis of the year.

In the same interview, Lee also gave his verdict on which country will win the ongoing 2026 World Cup. 

“I am not a fan of the World Cup. I watch the Premier League and Manchester United. But if you were to ask me to pick a country, I would say Portugal. Looking at their performance, I don’t think they can be champions, but who knows,” he said.