Lee Chong Wei
Lee Chong Wei is a Malaysian badminton player. As a singles player, Lee was ranked first worldwide for 349 weeks, including a 199-week streak from 21 August 2008 to 14 June 2012. He is the fifth Malaysian player after Foo Kok Keong, Rashid Sidek, Roslin Hashim and Wong Choong Hann to achieve such a ranking, and is the only Malaysian shuttler who has held the number one ranking for more than a year.
On 2 May 2023, Lee was inducted to BWF Badminton Hall of Fame. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest badminton players of all time.
Lee is a triple silver medalist at the Olympic Games, and the sixth Malaysian to win an Olympic medal. He won his first silver medal in 2008, also the first time a Malaysian had reached the finals in the men's singles event. This achievement earned him the title Datuk, and led to then Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak describing him as a national hero. He repeated the achievement twice more in 2012 and 2016, thus making him the most successful Malaysian Olympian in history.
On 13 June 2019, Lee announced his retirement after struggling to return to full fitness following a nose cancer diagnosis. He was appointed as Malaysia's chef de mission for the 2020 Summer Olympics, but skipped the event due to his health concerns. He retained his role, albeit serving it virtually.
Early life
Lee was born in Bagan Serai, Perak, into a Malaysian Chinese family, to Lee Ah Chai and Khor Kim Choi. In his early years, he favoured basketball, however his mother soon banned him from the game due to the searing heat of the outdoor basketball court. Lee began to learn badminton at the age of 11, when his father, who liked to play the game, brought him to the badminton hall. He attracted the attention of local coach Teh Peng Huat, who asked Lee's father if he could take him as a student. After receiving his father's consent, Teh began to train Lee after school. Discovered by Misbun Sidek, he was drafted into the national squad in 2000 when he was seventeen years old.Career
2002–2007
Lee picked up only one minor title during the 2002 and 2003 seasons. He reached his first final of a major tournament at the 2003 Malaysia Open where he was defeated by Chen Hong of China. Lee then secured two titles in 2004, the Malaysia Open and the Chinese Taipei Open. Lee gained a spot for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. In his first Olympic appearance, Lee defeated Ng Wei of Hong Kong in the first round. His journey ended in the second round when he was defeated by Chen Hong. Lee scored another two titles in 2005, his second Malaysia Open title and the Denmark Open. Lee won a bronze in his first appearance in the world meet, the 2005 World Championships after losing to eventual winner Taufik Hidayat in the semi-final.Lee won three titles out of six finals in 2006. He was crowned as the winner of the Swiss Open, Asian Badminton Championships and his third Malaysia Open title. He also reached the final of the Chinese Taipei Open, Macau Open and Hong Kong Open. In the Malaysia Open, Lee fought back from 13 to 20 down in the rubber match and saved eight match points against Lin Dan, and finally won the game with a score of 23–21 to secure the title. Lee won Malaysia's two gold medals in the badminton event for 2006 Commonwealth Games, in both the men's singles and mixed team events. Lee reached the top spot twice in the Badminton World Federation's world rankings in 2006, and he participated in the World Championships as top seed. However, he was upset by Bao Chunlai of China in the quarter-final despite Lee winning at their previous meeting. The match was also marred by two controversial line calls that were not in favour of Lee.
During the 2007 season, Lee failed to reach the final of the Malaysia Open for the first time in five years. He also suffered an early exit in five competitions afterward. Later on that season he took the Indonesia Open crown, his first title since the 2006 Malaysia Open after reuniting with former coach Misbun Sidek from Li Mao. His performance at the second half of the year was solid, as he achieved three titles in the Philippines Open, the Japan Open, and the French Open. He also managed to reach the final of the China Open and Hong Kong Open, despite his knee injury haunting him on both occasions. Lee won all matches he played in the Sudirman Cup in June, despite Malaysia finishing just fifth in the tournament. Lee's low point of the year was in the World Championships, despite the tournament being held in front of his home crowd and his solid performance during the second half of the year, he was defeated in the third round by Indonesia's Sony Dwi Kuncoro. Lee criticised the chief coach, Yap Kim Hock for treating him indifferently and putting pressure on him before the world championships. While the chief of Badminton Association of Malaysia, Datuk Nadzmi Mohd Salleh encouraged Lee and the chief coach, Yap Kim Hock to improve their relationship.
2008
Lee kicked off 2008 with success, capturing his fourth Malaysia Open title in five years. However, Lee only captured one more other title that year, the Singapore Open, which was the final tournament in his pre-Olympic preparations. Other tournaments he took part in were the Korea Open; the All England Open; the Swiss Open; the Badminton Asia Championships; and Thomas Cup in Jakarta, Indonesia where Lee helped Malaysia advance to the semi-final. In the semi-final he defeated Lin Dan to give Malaysia a 1–0 lead in its clash with defending champion China, but Malaysia eventually lost 2–3 due to the defeat of its first doubles team in the vital final match.In the 2008 Olympic Games, Lee was given a bye in the first round. He cruised to straight game victories over Ronald Susilo in the second round, Kęstutis Navickas in the third round, and Sony Dwi Kuncoro in the quarter-finals. In the semi-finals Lee Hyun-il gave him a tough fight, but eventually Lee was able to beat the South Korean and reach the final. However, it was a one-sided final, as Lee was completely outplayed by Lin Dan and salvaged only 20 points, losing 12–21, 8–21. He came second place overall.
Lee participated in several tournaments after the Olympic Games without capturing a title. He advanced to the finals of the Japan Open, the Macau Open and the China Open, but lost to Sony Dwi Kuncoro, Taufik Hidayat, and Lin Dan respectively. In the French Open Lee was eliminated in the semi-finals. His coach, Misbun Sidek, cited the pressure of being ranked world number one to explain Lee's recent failure to capture a title.
Lee ended his last Super Series tournament of the year, the Hong Kong Open, with a sudden withdrawal due to a knee injury, conceding a walkover to Germany's Marc Zwiebler. His last minute withdrawal led to the Chinese media tagging him as the "weakest world number one". The Chinese media speculated that three factors had hampered Lee's performance since the Olympic Games: the stress of the Olympic final, a phobia of Lin Dan due to his lopsided Olympic defeat at Lin's hands, and the pressure of being the world number one.
Despite Lee's difficulties in international play, he recorded his seventh consecutive victory at the National Badminton Grand Prix Final in Kedah on 12 December 2008, thus breaking the record of six consecutive titles set by Misbun Sidek. Lee ended the year with a title in the Super Series Masters Finals. However, Lin Dan and China's other top players did not compete, their association citing injuries and fatigue.
2009
Lee Chong Wei started the 2009 season with his fifth Malaysia Open title. He failed to secure his first Korea Open and All England Open title despite marching into the final. However, he secured his second title of the year in the Swiss Open which was held in Basel, defeating Lin Dan in straight sets and marking his first win in the finals against the Chinese opponent outside home turf.Next, Lee was defeated by Chen Long of China in the India Open. Lee claimed he lost because of food poisoning and insisted that authorities improve the conditions before the World Championships. In May, Lee helped Malaysia reach the semi-finals of the Sudirman Cup, the first in national history, despite his unbeaten record in the tournament being blown out by Lin Dan. He won another two titles in June, the Indonesia Open and the Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold, despite failing to defend his Singapore Open title when he was taken by Nguyễn Tiến Minh in the second round.
Lee kicked off the second half of the season with defeat by Sony Dwi Kuncoro in the world meets, but went on to win the Macau Open in August. He reached the semi-final in the China Masters, but once again failed to beat his all time rival Lin Dan. Then, Lee participated in the Japan Open. He only managed to reach the second round of the Open, before winning the Hong Kong Open in November. His inconsistency saw him tumble down in the first round of the China Open. In December, Lee defended his Super Series Masters Finals title, which saw the competition played without the top badminton players in the world.
2010
Lee started the year with the title in all events he took part, his first treble in the Super Series titles. He gained his first ever Korea Open crown, sixth Malaysia Open, and defeated Kenichi Tago to win the oldest and most prestigious badminton championship in the world, the All England Open, his first since he took part in 2004.Lee participated in the Thomas Cup in his home ground. He managed to defeat Kenichi Tago and take the first point, despite Malaysia's eventual loss to Japan. In the quarter-finals, he beat Peter Gade, thus helping to secure Malaysia's place in the semi-finals. In the semi-finals against China, Lee was defeated by Lin Dan, which ended his 18-match unbeaten record since the start of the year.
In June, Lee participated in the Singapore Open losing in the quarter-finals. However, Lee bounced back winning the Indonesia Open, Malaysian Open Grand Prix Gold in July, and Macau Open in August. In late August, Lee suffered a shock exit in another attempt for the World Championships, but was beaten by Taufik Hidayat in the quarter-finals. Misbun cited that the loss was due to the back injury he picked up after the match against Rajiv Ouseph in the third round. On 26 September, Lee beat his archrival Lin Dan in the Japan Open, the only title not taken by Chinese players in the tournament.
In October, he helped Malaysia to beat India to defend the gold medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games mixed team event, then he successfully defended his gold medal once again in the singles event a few days later. The following month he won a silver medal at the Asian Games. Despite beating reigning World Champion Chen Jin in the semi-final, Lee once again tasted defeat at the hands of his rival, Lin Dan, in the final. At season's end, he won his second consecutive Hong Kong Open title, and third consecutive Super Series Master Finals title, where the tournament was held in January 2011.