Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei: one of the most celebrated shuttlers in the history of Badminton
Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei is considered one of the most celebrated men’s singles players in the history of badminton. Chong Wei grabbed the position of world number one in October 2008 and continued his winning run to remain at the top till present. For the
last three years, nobody can snatch the top spot from the impressive Malaysian.
Chong Wei has won 17 Super Series titles so far. The Super Series tournaments were introduced by the Badminton World Federation in 2007 and right from the beginning, Chong Wei proved his supremacy and won the three events in 2007 including the Indonesia
Open, Japan Open and French Open. In 2008, the Malaysian grabbed two titles in the Malaysia Open and Singapore Open.
In the following year the Malaysian athlete continued his incredible winning streak in Super Series events and clinched four titles including, Malaysia Open, Swiss Open, Indonesia Open and Hong Kong Open.
Chong Wei remained at the top in 2010, where he raised the Malaysian flag in the Korea Open, Malaysia Open, All England Open, Indonesia Open, Japan Open and Hong Kong Open. In 2011, he won the home title of Malaysian Open Super Series and the coveted All
England Open Premier Super Series. Chong Wei defeated his biggest rival, Lin Dan of China in the final of the All England Open. The Indonesian legend, Taufiq Hidayat says that Chong Wei is unbeatable in super series events, but he should now go for the bigger
titles including the World Championships and the Olympic Games.
“Chong Wei proved he is the King of the Superseries by winning in Malaysia but he now needs to go on and win either the world title or Olympic gold or even both,” said Taufiq after losing the final of 2011 Malaysia Open to the world number one.
The top seed Malaysian is quite determined to win the World Championships and Olympic Games, the two missing titles in his legacy. He always remained unfortunate in different ways, sometimes fitness problems and sometimes other conditions restrained him
from winning a crown in these prestigious events.
Chong Wei has never delivered an impressive performance in the World Championships and was unable to pass the semi-final stage. However, he made his way to the finals in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where received a severe beating from his arch rival and superb
athlete Lin Dan of China, who was incredibly aggressive and perfect in the gold medal match.
By winning the All England title for the second consecutive time, Chong Wei is confident to stretch his impressive run in the upcoming major events of 2011 including, the Sudirman Cup which will be played from 22-29 May at Qing Dao, China and BWF World Championships
which are scheduled from 8-14 August in Wembley, London.
His major opponent in these mega events will be China’s Lin Dan, who is always present to stop the winning run of Chong Wei. His recent win over the Chinese player, increased his confidence and he is now training hard to win these prestigious titles. If
he succeeds in the mega event, he will become the first Malaysian to win a title in the Badminton World Championships.
The 28-year-old Malaysian is expected to retire from the international arena after the 2012 London Olympics. The major reason for all of his hard work is that he desires to become an Olympic and World Champion before leaving the game.
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