Tan Yee Khan says no other shuttler has the skill to become a world-class act besides Lee Chong Wei
Tan Yee Khan, the former doubles shuttler of Malaysia, expressed that besides Lee Chong Wei, there is no other shuttler in the country who possesses the skill to become a world beater or at least put up a strong show at the international level.
Yee Khan wants the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) to groom back-up shuttlers to replace Chong Wei in a better manner, otherwise the future of Malaysia will be quite scary in the category of Men’s Singles.
He said that the country has a chance to win an Olympic medal in the Men’s Singles category at the 2012 London Olympics through Chong Wei, but after the retirement of the World Number One, there should be more shuttlers to become major contenders in international
events. He wants BAM to plan for the 2016 Olympic Games, which will take place in Brazil.
Chong Wei narrowly missed the chance to win the title at the 2011 World Championships and become country’s first World Champion, but lady luck was not in his favour as he lost to China’s Lin Dan with a tight margin of 22-20, 14-21 and 21-23.
While talking about the lack of Singles shuttlers in Malaysia, Yee Khan said, “We can still hope on Chong Wei for the next two years at the most but there is no single promising player I see at the moment and this should not happen considering our badminton
tradition.”
He further said, “We need to start grooming up the right group of players for the future and you need about two years to get things right before you can see them challenging for the big titles. And we have to start looking at the younger set of players as
it is too late for the current group to make changes.”
Yee Khan appreciated the hard work and effort of Chong Wei which brought him so close to win the title at the World Championships. He wants young shuttlers to take inspiration from Chong Wei and follow his footsteps by working with dedication and commitment.
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