Unknown to many, Lee Zii Jia's coach Hendrawan had to face off-the-court issues in the lead-up to the Tokyo Olympics.
Hendrawan, who coached Zii Jia to the All-England title in March, revealed that his father and daughter were hospitalised in Indonesia earlier this year.
"These Olympics have been very tough for me as a coach. Not only were we faced with Covid-19-related challenges, I had also faced a number of personal problems," said Hendrawan yesterday.
"My father was hospitalised in my hometown and placed in the intensive care unit. There was nothing we could do.
"In the final few days before leaving for Tokyo, my daughter was also hospitalised but I could not go and see her because I was under a quarantine bubble (at BAM Academy). It was a sacrifice I had to make. I never told anyone about this. "(Public) expectations had also risen after Zii Jia won the All England. This really put a lot of pressure on the coaches because we knew everyone was hoping for us to win a medal.
"I, myself, as a coach wanted (Zii Jia) to win a medal, and our preparations had gone well.
"Zii Jia's loss (to Chen Long) was largely down to a lack of experience. He needs that experience to learn how to handle the pressure at big events, especially during the critical (big) points."
Hendrawan disclosed that Zii Jia's biggest opponent is himself.
"As Zii Jia has said, there is still a lot of work to be done in terms of tactics, fitness and so on.
"After coaching him for the past year or so and watching him play in many tournaments from the Sea Games to the World Championships, I have noticed that Zii Jia's biggest opponent is himself.
"There are times he does well and there are times he doesn't do so well. The (performance) curve goes up and down a lot.
"One of our jobs as coaches is to lessen that curve. If we can do that, it will mean that Zii Jia is starting to mature as a player."
