While the nation revelled at Lee Zii Jia’s success at the All-England Open, there were two other Malaysians who made history by propelling Japan to become the biggest winners at the prestigious tournament.

Former national coach Jeremy Gan, currently Japan’s mixed doubles handler, saw both his pairings Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino and Yuki Kaneko-Misaki Matsutomo slog it out in the final, with the former prevailing in straight games.

Similarly, Tan Kim Her, now overseeing the Japanese men’s doubles department, was a proud coach after witnessing an all-Japan final, won by Hiroyuki Endo-Yuta Watanabe.

Another former national shuttler, Lee Wan Wah, coaches Japan’s men’s doubles B team.

Japan, who also won the women’s singles and doubles titles, clinched four of five titles at the world’s oldest badminton tournament this year to become the third country after South Korea and China to win four titles in the same edition.

Both the Malaysians’ success was not overlooked, as the Japanese ambassador to Malaysia, Hiroshi Oka, presented the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) with the prestigious Japanese Foreign Minister’s Commendation recently.

“These Malaysian coaches have contributed a lot to the overall performance of the Japanese shuttlers at the international stage, and we are immensely grateful to them.

“Izuan Ibrahim, who was a former youth coach, had also inspired many shuttlers including Kento Momota. His passing in 2019 is a great loss,” he said.