Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei chooses to skip Sea Games to give young shuttlers a chance – Badminton News
Malaysia’s ace player, Lee Chong Wei, has chosen to skip the Sea Games 2011 event, to give a chance to young shuttlers to participate in this tournament, which will take place in Indonesia, in November.
Chong Wei, who is currently the World Number One in the Men’s Singles world rankings, says that playing in the Sea Games will give experience to young players, which will help them in becoming better players.
While talking about the performance of the Malaysian team in last week’s Sudirman Cup, Chong Wei said, “We did reasonably well in the Sudirman Cup. We even took South Korea to the distance before losing 2-3 in the quarter-finals. We put up a good fight.”
The top shuttler knows that after his retirement from professional badminton, there is no other shuttler who has the ability to trouble top players in the world. Chong Wei wants the back-up players to gain experience by playing more and more international
events.
Wei said, “It is best that I step out of the SEA Games squad. I hope the youngsters will use the opportunity to strut their stuff and gain as much experience as possible.”
He further added, “We have an important team event next year – the Thomas Cup Finals. But I cannot put my finger on the second and third singles player in the team. We need to act fast.”
Malaysia’s notable shuttlers in the Men’s Singles category who are expected to replace Chong Wei in the next two years are Mohd Arif Abdul Latif, Chong Wei Feng, Tan Chun Seang, Goh Soon Huat, Chan Kwong Beng and Liew Daren.
The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) is working hard on development programmes for junior shuttlers. Chong Wei said that rapid steps are required to avoid a downfall after his retirement from competitive badminton.
Now, it is the turn of the back-up players to step forward by working hard in their training sessions and becoming the true successors of Lee Chong Wei, who is the most successful shuttler in the entire history of Malaysian badminton.
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