National badminton men’s singles coach, Tey Seu Bock claims that Chinese powerhouse Lin Dan will always be Lee Chong Wei’s number one obstacle in terms of whether he’s able to clinch a gold medal at the Rio Olympics, later this year.
With many believing that world number one Chen Long proposes a greater threat to Chong Wei, Seu Bock believes otherwise – claiming that Lin Dan has a better character and a stronger mentality.
“In the battle of world badminton, only Lin Dan and Chong Wei are mentally strong. Even though the two are getting older but they can still follow the rhythm of the junior players,” said Seu Bock has quoted from Berita Harian.
“I believe that Lin Dan will reappear stronger because he is a player with a strong willpower and has lots of experience.”
“Chen Lon is undeniably more consistent but his pattern and game play is predictable compared to Lin Dan which is difficult to predict, he always comes up with different strategies.”
Chong Wei has yet to bring back a gold medal from the Olympics as he was outplayed twice by Lin Dan in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2012 London Olympics.
Seu Bock also claimed that 2016 is a challenging year as he needs to help Chong Wei prepare for the Rio Olympics and at the same time, he also needs to help improve the junior players.
“It’s a heavy task because I need to help Chong Wei and train the juniors. The juniors also need to be given attention because they are the ones that will be taking over Chong Wei in the Olympics next time even if we don’t know when he will retire.”
“I need to start training them and not after August (after the Olympics). Chong Wei’s preparations are important but so are the juniors.”
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