PETALING JAYA: A lawsuit by Lee Zii Jia’s former coach Indra Wijaya is affecting the shuttler’s focus.

Zii Jia, who is ranked fourth in the world, said the matter has affected his game, Bernama reported.

“All I can say is that I may have done things that are both wrong and right. I can’t change what has happened but what I do know is that we parted amicably.

“I don’t want to comment too much as I could get my comments wrong by talking too much, resulting in too much media attention. I don’t want that,” he was quoted as saying after his first day of centralised training at the Academy Badminton Malaysia (ABM) in Bukit Kiara here.

The centralised training camp is to help the national squad prepare for the 2023 Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championships (BAMTC) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) from Feb 14 to 19.

Meanwhile, Zii Jia’s manager and sister, Zii Yii, confirmed that their lawyer had received a letter from Indra’s lawyer.

“I am not sure what the contents of the letter are. We don’t want this issue to prolong and get worse. Let the lawyers handle it,” she said, according to Bernama.

Zii Jia resigned from the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) in January last year to turn professional. Shortly after, Indra, a former national singles coach, left BAM to join Zii Jia’s professional team.

Zii Jia and Indra had reportedly signed a contract that was due to expire after the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Despite being crowned Asian champion and winning the Thailand Open in May, Zii Jia’s form plunged in the second half of the year.

As a result, the Kedah-born shuttler failed to make the cut for the season-ending World Tour Finals in Bangkok. This led to Indra and Zii Jia going their separate ways.