KUALA LUMPUR: Lee Zii Jia will be motivated to deliver a memorable farewell for his coach Wong Tat Meng at the World Tour Finals (WTF) in Hangzhou next week.
However, the world No. 8 Malaysian will have to up his game as he has been drawn in a tough Group A with top seed Anders Antonsen of Denmark and Asian Games champion Li Shi Feng of China.
World No. 2 Antonsen won the Super 750 Denmark Open in October and the China Masters last month, while world No. 6 Shi Feng is also in strong form after clinching the Super 750 Kumamoto Masters last month.
The unseeded Zii Jia will also have to deal with the evergreen veteran and third seed Chou Tien Chen of Taiwan (No. 9) in his group to battle for the two semi-final spots.
Tat Meng, who has been coaching Zii Jia for the last 18 months, has announced that he will not renew his contract with Team LZJ when it expires on Dec 31.
Group B consists of world No. 1 and second seed Shu Yu Qi of China, fourth seed Kodai Naraoka of Japan (No. 7), Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand (No. 5) and Jonatan Christie of Indonesia (No. 4).