Even though he lost in straight games to Kento Momota, Lee Zii Jia was the talk of the badminton world courtesy of his backhand smash against the world number one in the Korea Open quarter-finals.

Lee lost in straight games 15-21, 19-21 to the Japanese, who went on to clinch his third consecutive title, last week, but the Malaysian youngster again showed promise.

The highlight of the match was Lee's backhand smash, executed in 360 degrees pirouette, twice.



"I have done this in training, and my team-mates know I can pull off this move.

"But it’s not so easy to execute this in tournaments as I often meet top 32 players and they won’t give much chances for me to do this.

"I’m quite happy to have pulled this off against Momota. I became interested in this shot after watching Taufik [Hidayat] do it with success many times," said Lee when met in training on Tuesday.

Former Olympic champion and world number one Taufik was renowned for his backhand smashes, with many badminton observers rating it as good as the conventional forehand smash.

His viral shot aside, Lee is now turning his attention to the upcoming Denmark Open (October 15-20) and French Open (October 22-27), aiming to make a bigger impact.

The 21-year-old checked into the quarter-finals on nine occasions this year, and is banking on another good outing when he leaves for the European events.

Lee also conceded he needed to work on his psychological game as previously pointed out by coaching director Wong Choon Hann.

"I totally agree with [Choon Hann]. We have discussed some of the key areas I need to improve on before heading to Denmark and France," he added.

At the Denmark Open, the world number 15 will face China’s Chen Long in the first round.

Lee, who beat Chen once at the Indonesia Open and went the distance against the Olympic champion at the China Open before losing, is relishing another showdown against the Chinese number one.

"We can’t avoid top seeds or second seeds. For me, it's all about creating an upset to achieve better world ranking," he said.