Coach Indra, Zii Jia part ways

KUALA LUMPUR - After coaching Lee Zii Jia as a professional player for nine months, Indra Wijaya is no longer with the world's number two player who wants to move on without a coach.

Indra, 48, said the decision was reached in a discussion with the national top singles shuttler on Friday.

"Zii Jia wants to proceed with his career as an independent (professional) player without a coach. We had a talk and I respected his decision.

"I wish him good luck in his career. One good lesson and experience working with him is that there are ups and downs in our endeavours, ” he said contacted by Bernama.

The winner of the 1997 World Cup bronze medal returned to his family in Jakarta and is open to any new offer.

"So far, there are no plans (for the future) as the decision was made suddenly but I am open and ready to take any offer as a coach. My expertise is in singles for both men and women,” he said.

Indra who represented Indonesia from 1995 to 2000 was ranked fourth in the world and was part of the victorious Thomas Cup team in 1998 before representing Singapore in 2001.

He later began his career as a coach at the academy of his younger brother, Candra Wijaya who won the 2000 Sydney Olympics Games men’s doubles gold medal and went on to be the men’s singles coach of South Korea.

Indra was appointed as the men’s junior coach of Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) in 2016 with Zii Jia, Iskandar Zulkarnain, Goh Soon Huat, Soong Joo Ven and Cheam June Wei as among the talents under his watch before becoming the women’s singles coach in 2020.

In February, Indra left BAM to coach Zii Jia who had also parted ways with BAM to be a professional player.

Meanwhile, Zii Jia's manager Lee Zii Yii confirmed the parting in a brief statement.

"We truly appreciate the efforts that coach Indra contributed to Zii Jia and the team. He will always remain an important mentor to Zii Jia and the team.

"We wish coach Indra all the best in his future undertakings," she said. - BERNAMA