The past few weeks were in complete shambles for national badminton ace Lee Chong Wei as he was shockingly sent packing in the early stages of the All England Championships and Indian Open. But the former world number one is prepared to bounce back in the Malaysian Open this week.
Chong Wei claimed that his defeat in the previous tournaments did not demotivate him and in fact it pumped up his spirit to strive for a victory in his homeland. A victorious local championship would serve as a confident booster and a leaping board for him to gauge his previous standards.
“I know I’m not in the best form right now but I’ve done my best in preparing for all of my next matches. I will focus one by one this time. I hope I can win an eleventh title in the Malaysian Open this year,” he said as quoted from Berita Harian.
Chong Wei’s defeat to B Sai Praneeth in the All England championships sent shockwaves to worldwide viewers and just when they thought it was a one-time slip-up, the Olympic silver medallist was knocked out by Hong Kong’s Wei Nan in New Delhi last week.
However, the 34 year-old will be getting a chance to erase his disappointment this Wednesday as he will be taking on Wei Nan in the opening round.
“It was a tough match against Wei Nan in India as he was on full-on attacking mode. This time, I will do what’s best to win in my home nation.”
WHAT DO WE THINK:
Chong Wei has been undeniably struggling for the past few weeks and there is no exact justification to why the former world number one is presenting such a ramshackle performance as he was completely fine and displayed a powerful exterior during the Malaysian Masters in the start of the year- which he ultimately won. There is probably only one last chance for Chong Wei to bag the Olympic gold medal and that chance is just four months away- not to mention he has to fare well in the Kunshan Thomas Cup next month. Could it be that all his focus were concentrated in the Olympics and his possible opponents such as Lin Dan and Chen Long, he became a little unaware on how to tackle the unusual opponents in the recent championships? There could be a chance that Chong Wei is mentally preparing for the Olympics to the point that he restricted his flexibility when it comes to the other players. All in all, Chong Wei is not deteriorating, he could be just suffering a little hiccup in adapting.
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