PETALING JAYA: From a low profile person to being under the spotlight, former international Yeoh Kay Bin (pic) is embracing it all – the challenge and the change – that comes with coaching professional Lee Zii Jia.

And yesterday, the 44-year-old Kay Bin got another taste of it by leading Zii Jia back to his first competition in five months at the World Championships in Paris.

The 27-year-old Zii Jia showed lack of sharpness in the first round 17-21, 11-21 defeat to South Korean Jeon Hyeok-jin but for Kay Bin it was an important step towards building self-confidence.

“It is a joy for a coach to see Zii Jia complete a full match without going through pain,” said Kay Bin, who replaced Wong Tat Meng early this year.

Being the closest person to Zii Jia in recent times, Kay Bin knows the challenges that his charge had gone through since aggravating his ankle injury at the All-England in March. And to make it worse, the stress of slow recovery and self-doubt had led Zii Jia to depression.

“This match will surely give Zii Jia the confidence back as he tries to get back to the court stronger,” added Kay Bin, who will be now preparing his player for the Hong Kong Open from Sept 9 to 14 and China Masters from Sept 16 to 21.

Kay Bin used to be the soft-spoken and under-the-radar player during his time in the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) in the the 2000s but has grown into a confident coach.

Kay Bin, who won a silver medal at the 1998 World Junior Championships in Melbourne, left the BA of Malaysia in 2008 after he failed to qualify for the Beijing Olympic Games.

That same year, together with K. Yogendran, they both set up the New Vision Badminton Academy. In 2013, they invited Li Mao to join them in the formation of Kawasaki Badminton Interna­tional Club here in Malaysia.

However, in 2015, Kawasaki, the sponsor decided to set up a centre in Shenzen, and Kay Bin followed Li Mao there for seven years and enriched his coaching repertoire until Covid-19 ended the project in 2022.