A heartwarming show from Zii Jia in the Arctic

KUALA LUMPUR: Though Lee Zii Jia lost in the Arctic Open semi-finals on Saturday, he showed the fire that has been missing from his game in the past year.

He has rekindled something in his game, and fans will want to see the return of the good old Zii Jia that won the All-England title and Olympic bronze.

At the Arctic Open, Zii Jia brought back some of his old magic to subdue French's world No.2 Chisto Popov in the quarter-finals before he was edged 21-11, 15-21, 21-16 by Denmark's world No. 6 Anders Antonsen in Finland on Saturday.

Zii Jia continues to be an enigma. Not many people had expected him to go far in the Arctic Open, especially after his shock second round defeat to Taiwan's unheralded Wu Zhe Ying at the Vietnam Open last month.

Plagued by injuries in the last two years and after having lost in the first round in seven of 14 tournaments, his career was thought to be going downhill.

But his commendable performance at the Arctic Open shows that the badminton world can't write off Zii Jia yet.