Zii Jia, seeded ninth, opined that every shuttler has the same odds and ability to take home gold as the competition kicked off at the Musashino Forest Sport Plaza today.

“Everyone has a fair chance to win at the Tokyo Olympics,” he said in a video posted on the Olympic Council of Malaysia’s Facebook.

Meanwhile, the All England champion just wants to seize the moment in his Olympic debut despite playing without spectators.

Describing the no fans atmosphere as a sticky wicket situation, the 23-year-old said every player has to go through the same path and try to adapt to this new norm.

All eyes will surely be on Zii Jia, as the Kedahan is touted as among the medal contenders in Tokyo following his All England triumph of beating world No 2 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark in the final in Birmingham last March.

The current world No 8 is set to open his Tokyo Olympics account against Artem Pochtarov of Ukraine in the men’s singles Group M match tomorrow.