Malaysian badminton king Datuk Lee Chong Wei has to bid farewell to the YONEX All England Open Badminton Championships after he sustained a knee injury during training.
Chong Wei was expected to fly to Birmingham for the world-class tournament that would be held from the 7th until the 12th of March. However, the 35-year old tore his medial collateral ligament (MCL) during training last Saturday, and he is expected to be out for at least six weeks.
The unfortunate incident happened after Chong Wei slipped and fell at the new Academy of Badminton Malaysia (ABM) in Bukit Kiara.
Chong Wei’s coach Hendrawan confirmed that this incident was a huge blow for the former World No 1, as Chong Wei was really excited and looking forward to the world championship, but now has to sit out.
According to The Star, Chong Wei holds the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) responsible for his injury, as he had already warned them about the slippery mats. Unfortunately, no one took any initiative to replace the mats.
“This injury could have been avoided,” Chong Wei told The Star. “I told my coach Hendrawan about the slippery condition after Chong Yee Han fell last week. I wasn’t comfortable playing on it and so did the other players.”
“They waited for an incident to happen before they did something about it, this shouldn’t be the way.” he said.
BAM’s general manager Lawrence Chew has since apologised and given assurance that they will do all they can to improve the training ground in Bukit Kiara.
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