Skip to main content

Chong Wei cool in defeat


LEE Chong Wei was handed a reality check in last week’s Indonesia Open but the World No 1 is confident he will bounce back from the semi-final defeat to Japan’s Kenichi Tago in upcoming priority tournaments.

The 32-year-old denied that age and fatigue were the cause of his rare loss to Tago, saying the World No 4 Japanese deserved the win.

Undeterred, the defeat has made Chong Wei even more determined as he shifts his focus to becoming champion for the first time in the World Championships in Copenhagen on Aug 25-31 and the Incheon Asian Games on Sept 19-29.

The three-time All England winner’s first target is next month’s Glasgow Commonwealth Games, where he should easily win his third straight gold medal.

However, the defeat to the 24-year-old Tago is a wake-up call for the ageing Malaysian, who must now work harder to remain as a contender for the Olympic title in 2016.

“I am in perfect form. I did not lose to Tago because of my physical condition. Tago was aggressive and I lost. It is normal for a shuttler to sometimes lose,” Chong Wei told www.antaranews.com on Sunday.

Chong Wei will compete in fewer tournaments to avoid injury before the Olympics. “I need to plan my tournaments. My dream is to end my career with the Olympic gold. Win or lose, I will retire in 2016,” said the 10-time Malaysian Open winner.

But injury may not be Chong Wei’s only concern ahead of the Olympics as his nemesis Lin Dan could be in Rio de Janeiro bidding for a third gold as the China ace has returned to competition full time this season.

Meanwhile, Liew Daren will start his campaign in the qualifying round of the Australian Open in Sydney today. The World No 52 opens against Australia’s Low Pit Seng. If he wins, Daren will face either compatriot Chiang Jiann Shiarng or Australian Jeff Tho for a spot in the main draw.

Zulfadli Zulkiffli is the only Malaysian in the main draw while newly crowned Indonesia Open champion Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark and Tago are the top two seeds.


NST

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Malaysian junior athletes are just too ‘lembik’

Saya setuju. We are working on more coaches! “ @ManOlimpik : Malaysian junior athletes are just too ‘lembik’ http://t.co/7D7wmHWaNy ” — Khairy Jamaluddin (@Khairykj) June 10, 2014 The benchmark. Can our junior athletes train as hard as Malaysia's world No.1 badminton player, Lee Chong Wei? “IT IS okay lah. The training is not too bad lah. I will try lah … Wah, so hard lah today.” These are some of the common statements I hear from our juniors nowadays. It is not only in badminton. It is the easy-going, laid-back attitude and lack of competitiveness at grassroots level that we have problems producing quality players. I have travelled quite a bit. After ending my decade-long career with the national team, I went to play in the league in Europe. It’s different there. The European athletes know what they want. And they do it with real focus. Even the young ones possess admirable self-control and show a high level of commitment. During my time in the ...

Badminton: Fans rooting for all-Malaysian semis

Reports: RAJES PAUL KUALA LUMPUR: The home fans will be rooting for an all-Malaysian men’s singles semi-final between Lee Chong Wei and Liew Daren. But Chong Wei is more fancied to advance than Daren in quarter-final matches against Indonesian Simon Santoso and Dane Peter Gade-Christensen respectively at the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil today. Yesterday, Chong Wei defeated Vietnamese Nguyen Tien Minh 21-9, 18-21, 21-7 in a second-round match that saw the world number one struggling to adapt to the draught in the stadium in the second game. And Daren continued a fairy tale run in his home Open, blowing away a toothless Hsueh Hsuan-yi of Taiwan 21-14, 21-12. Although Choong Wei had to slog for the win over Tien Minh, the top seed and defending champion felt that he was playing better by the day. “I got off to a good start but found it hard to cope with the draught. I tried to catch up after losing my momentum but that did not happen and I decided to conserve energy for ...

Organising Major Sports Events Can Inspire Sports Culture Among The People - Khairy

PUTRAJAYA, June 5 (Bernama) -- Organising major sports events can help inspire sports culture among the people and ensure a healthy lifestyle said Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin. Khairy said the Tour of Malaysia cycling race organised since 1963, for example, can encourage more people to take the sport in a more competitive way or just for recreation purposes. "A study carried out by a world renown medical journal, The Lancet, revealed that 61 percent of adults in Malaysia do not engage themselves in active sports. "A study by the Health Ministry revealed that only 25 percent of Malaysians exercise," he said in his speech when launching the 2013 Tour of Malaysia (Jelajah Malaysia) at the Youth and Sports Ministry, here, Wednesday. "Cycling, though not as popular here as in countries like Denmark, the activity is becoming popular among the people as can be seen through an increase in sale of bicycles for recreation," he sa...