Badminton ace Lee Chong Wei won’t be spending too long in celebrating Chinese New Year as the national top seed will be getting back on the court after four days of rest to continue training and help his juniors prepare for the upcoming Badminton Asia Team Championship (BATC) in Hyderabad, India.
The championship, which will commence on February 15 to 21 will serve as a qualifier for the Kunshan Thomas a Cup and Uber Cup this May.
Not only that, Chong Wei will also be taking much more of his time to improve and perfect his skills and pattern to prepare for his most desired tournament – the historic All England championship in early March.
When asked about his juniors’ performance thus far, the 33 year-old claimed that the players are getting better and that their display of skills were praiseworthy.
“They’re better than last year, you can see that they’ve improved in many sectors. During the Malaysian Masters two weeks ago, everyone played their best and they were good,” said Chong Wei as quoted from Sinchew.
“Iskandar, Soong Joo Ven and Soo Teck Zhi are selected to play in the BATC. This will definitely benefit them and it’s a platform for them to do better. This time, the young players were chosen to be in the squad therefore they need to make use of this opportunity to prove themselves.”
“My role this time, is to just stand by the side and give my support. Sooner or later I’ll be retiring, they need to start getting used to it.”
Furthermore, Chong Wei is extremely excited en route to playing on the English court once more as he was unable to do so last year due to his suspension.
“I will focus on the All England, not only because it’s an important tournament but also because the atmosphere there is different.”
“To me, this tournament is as important as the Super series and the Olympics, I will certainly prepare well. It might just be my last year on the court.”
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