Badminton star Lee Chong Wei will be giving it his all at the upcoming Malaysia Masters Championships – which is a part of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Grand Prix Gold series – in order to qualify for the Rio Olympics.
Administrative manager of the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM), Ahmad Mohd Idris stated that the championship will be a springboard for Chong Wei to gather even more points to improve his rank and climb up to the top 4 in the BWF World Ranking.
“Besides accumulating world ranking points, Chong Wei will be playing in front of the local audience and everyone is hoping for him to claim the title,” said Mohd Idris as quoted from Berita Harian.
The 33 year-old is currently ranked no.5 in the world, trailing behind rival Lin Dan at fourth, Japanese young gun Kento Momota at third, Denmark’s Jan O Jorgensen at second and Chinese powerhouse Chen Long capping the top rank.
According to Ahmad, 338 players from 28 countries, including Indonesia, Singapore, Japan, Thailand, United States, Hong Kong and India have registered for the championship.
Chong Wei will be taking on India’s R.M.V Gurusaidutt in his opening match and is expected to meet either Hong Kong’s Hu Yun or India’s Ajay Jayaram in the quarter finals and hopefully Indonesia’s Tommy Sugiarto in the semifinals.
Meanwhile, Chong Wei Feng is set to face Kidambi Srikanth of India in his first match.
The championship will be held and the SPICE Arena for the first time this coming January 19-24.
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