Prioritising will take Chong Wei to London

Chong Wei will have to choose tournaments if he wants to stay at the top until the 2012 Olympics.

WORLD No 1 Lee Chong Wei is one of several shuttlers earmarked for the 2012 London Olympics but he can only realise that if he starts picking his tournaments wisely.

If he does that, then national singles chief coach Rashid Sidek believes Chong Wei will have a second chance at landing the gold which eluded him in Beijing last year.

As Rashid sees it, there is dearth of talent on the international circuit and Chong Wei, with China's Lin Dan, should continue ruling the roost for the next three years.

However, whether Chong Wei can keep pace with Lin Dan depends on the Malaysian's priorities.

"Lin Dan has already started being picky about the tournaments he plays in since winning gold in the Olympics. In fact, he has only competed twice since then," said Rashid yesterday.
Chong Wei, meanwhile, has played in seven -- five international and two local -- and this is the kind of schedule Rashid said the 27-year-old must avoid if he hopes to carry on till 2012.

"Chong Wei can, even if he will be 30 then, easily remain among the top players until the London Olympics but he needs to be wiser when it comes to competitions. He cannot compete in as many tournaments as he used to previously.

"He is now at a level where he is capable of winning whichever tournament he competes in or at least finish as runner-up. However, it is almost impossible to maintain this if Chong Wei competes in too many tournaments as the Olympics are more than three years away.

"Lin Dan is not too bothered about his world ranking anymore but he is focused on winning the tournaments he chooses to compete in.

"He played in the China Open after the Olympics and won and reached the final of the Hong Kong Open (last year). His next tournaments will be the All England and Swiss Open (in March) and I expect him to follow this trend.

"This will give him enough time to be well prepared and this is what Chong Wei must also do."

Chong Wei began the year with the Malaysia Open title but fell to Peter Gade Christensen of Denmark, whom the Malaysian had beaten five times in a row prior to the meeting, in the final of the Korea Open.

His next outing will be the All England and Swiss Open where he will go head-to-head with Lin Dan and after that, Chong Wei is expected to compete in the Sudirman Cup.

The next important tournament is the World Championships in Hyderabad on Aug 10-16, which should be his major target for the year.

Rashid believes so and he wants Chong Wei to prepare adequately for a tilt at the title.

This also means there can't be a repeat of last year where Chong Wei competed in 17 tournaments (local and abroad).

If he does, he can forget about the World Championships title.

NST