2014 YOG: Lee not worried about facing China's number two

National women's badminton singles back-up player to the Youth Olympic Games (2014 YOG), Lee Yin Yin is not fazed at the prospect of facing China's number two youth player, Jiao He Bing in the preliminary round in Group H tomorrow at the Nanjing Sports Institute Gymnasium here.

Malaysia are traversing a difficult path in Group H which has hosts China, Austria and Slovenia.

Lee, 17, said she was prepared to face Jiao because there was no such thing as surrendering before a match ends.

"I will try my best to collect points early tomorrow to get a comfortable position to control the match, as otherwise it will be difficult to reap points," she told Bernama Saturday.

The player, who is 17th in the world youth ranking, said she was fully prepared for the match tomorrow after undergoing rigorous preparation under coach Zhou Kejian of China.

Lee said her personal target was to at least reach the semi-finals of the championship.

"I think there is no problem to advance to the semi-finals because this championship is a team event, what is important is for me and my team mate Cheam Jun Wei (men's singles) to grab the points early," she said.

Lee, who will also be performing in the doubles event at the championship, said she harboured a dream to contribute Malaysia's first gold medal one day.

"I must do it wholeheartedly from today if I want to go far and will use the experience performing at 2014 YOG as a very valuable input to face bigger challenges at the Olympics one day," she said.

Narrating on how she was 'trapped' into badminton, Lee said she had never thought about venturing into badminton but started falling in love with the game eight years ago.

"Coincidentally, while playing badminton with friends for the first time, I was introduced to a coach by the name of Alex Du and he had given me many pointers which have elevated me to this level."

Lee, who is due to sit for the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia this year, said she had brought her books to Nanjing and would study when time permitted.

Malaysia only sent two athletes for badminton for the current edition, namely Lee and Cheam, both of whom will perform in the women's and men's singles and the mixed doubles.