National badminton head coach Hendrawan is utterly confident that Lee Chong Wei will be able to erase his All England woes and triumph in the Rio Olympics this August but what Chong Wei needs to worry about is not just his usual rivals Lin Dan and Chen Long, in fact it is all the players in the championship.
According to Hendrawan, the shuttlers from all around the world displayed a stellar performance and could be up for a potential threat to hinder Chong Wei from a gold medal bid.
“I thoroughly assessed all players during the All England championship and took note of every single detail. To me, I can see that all of the players have done a great amount of preparation to play in the Olympics. Therefore, our obstacles are not just Lin Dan and Chen Long,” said Hendrawan as quoted from Sinchew.
“All players played really good in the All England, I could only imagine what they’ll be like in the Olympics.”
“Chong Wei has no choice but to put in 100 per cent in the first round itself. We can’t underestimate all the other players. Besides Lin Dan and Chen Long, Denmark’s Axelson and South Korea’s Son Wan Ho are potential threats.”
On about Chong Wei’s preparation for the remaining five months, Hendrawan stated that Chong Wei’s All England shortfall is not at all a negative impact as the earlier mistakes are detected, the earlier it can be corrected and improved.
“I think that Chong Wei’s defeat in the All England is a good thing if you view it in another angle. If we assess the past two Olympics, Chong Wei tends to encounter bumpy tournaments like this.”
“And as you can see, when Chong Wei’s rank fell to the hundreds, he worked hard to climb back up to achieve his current rank.”
“Even I did not believe that in such a short time, he would be able to improve the second place. My prediction was third or fourth but in five months he managed to climb up to second.”
“The All England defeat gives Chong Wei more time to understand his weaknesses. In such situation, the defeat is definitely not much of a bad thing.”
“Not all victories bring a positive outcome and not all defeats bring a negative outcome. What’s important is that he understands the reasons for his victories and defeat, and that he knows how to deal with it.”
“I think that if Chong Wei can maintain his focus, the following five months will be enough for him to emerge as a big threat to the Olympics.”
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