KUALA LUMPUR: While many Malaysian athletes dream of a place in the elite Road to Gold (RTG) programme, shuttler Lee Zii Jia is taking his time to consider it.
With only 10 days left before the Nov 14 deadline, Zii Jia's professional outfit, Team LZJ, have requested for "more time" to study the Letter of Commitment (LOC) before making a decision.
RTG programme coordinator Stuart Ramalingam told Timesport that Zii Jia and Team LZJ met him on Friday after it was revealed that the former All England champion remains the only athlete who has not signed the LOC.
To date, 14 elite athletes including former track cycling world champion Azizulhasni Awang and national divers Pandelela Rinong and Nur Dhabitah Sabri, have signed on to be part of the RTG.
Last week, after an RTG committee meeting, Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh urged Zii Jia to make signing the LOC a priority within the next two weeks.
In response, Zii Jia's sister, Lee Zii Yii, who is also the Team LZJ manager, cited a tight tournament schedule for the delay.
"We met with Team LZJ on Friday to discuss the details of support and criteria of the RTG LOC.
"The meeting, attended by myself and the RTG secretariat staff, as well as all the members from Team LZJ, including Zii Jia and his coach Wong Tat Meng, went very well.
"It's been agreed for Zii Jia to take some time to discuss internally and consider the RTG support programmes and services available to him. He will revert to the RTG secretariat soon," Stuart said.
Though Zii Jia has yet to sign the agreement, he has already been rendered sports science support twice through the programme.
For the 25-year-old, signing the contract is not so straightforward, as he already has his own professional team, which include support service staff, and he has other sponsors.
The RTG programme is to provide Malaysia's elite athletes with the additional support to fight for gold at next year's Paris Olympics, 2028 Olympics and other major international competitions.
In addition to sport science, competition exposure and coaching support, RTG athletes will also receive a monthly RM3,000 allowance,
When contacted, Team LZJ confirmed that they had received the LOC from the RTG committee, and will make a decision soon.
"We had met with RTG and had also received the LOC. We're still discussing the details," said Zii Yii.
Zii Jia, who won the Arctic Open last month, will compete in the Korea Masters in Gwangju this week. He will also play in the Kumamoto Masters in Japan (Nov 14-19), and China Masters (Nov 21-26).
This means that if Zii Jia wants to be part of the RTG, he will need to sign the LOC before heading to Japan.
