Lee Chong Wei (born 21 October 1982 in Bagan Serai, Perak[1]) is a Malaysian Chinese professional badminton player. As a singles player, Lee was ranked first worldwide for 199 consecutive weeks from 21 August 2008 to 14 June 2012.[2] He is the third Malaysian player after Rashid Sidek and Roslin Hashim to achieve such a ranking (since official rankings were first kept in the 1980s), and is the only Malaysian shuttler to hold the number one ranking for more than a year.[3]
Lee is a silver medalist in both the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games, making him the sixth Malaysian to win an Olympic medal[3] and the first Malaysian to reach the finals in the men's singles event, ending Malaysia's Olympic medal drought since the 1996 Games. This achievement also earned him the title Dato', and a description by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak as a national hero.[4] He repeated the achievement four years later in London, thus making him the most successful Malaysian Olympian in history.[5]
Contents [hide]
1 Personal life
2 Career
2.1 2002–2007
2.2 2008
2.3 2009
2.4 2010
2.5 2011
2.6 2012
2.7 2013
2.8 2014
2.9 2015
3 Doping
4 Awards
5 Achievements
5.1 Career finals (57 titles, 29 runner-ups)
6 References
Personal life[edit]
In his early years, Lee favoured basketball, however his mother soon banned him from the game due to the searing heat of the outdoor basketball court. Lee began to learn badminton at the age of 11, when his father, who liked to play the game, brought him to the badminton hall. Attracting the attention of a local coach, the coach asked Lee's father if he could take him as a student. After receiving his father's consent, the coach began to train Lee after school.[6] Discovered by Misbun Sidek, he was drafted into the national squad when he was seventeen years old.[7]
On 3 November 2006, Lee was involved in a car accident. On his way to Bukit Jalil after dinner, he was hit from behind by a vehicle which had lost control after a tire blow out. He was then sent to the Sunway Medical Centre and treated with six stitches for his head injury.[8]
Lee received RM300,000 on 21 August 2008, as a reward for his silver medal effort in the 2008 Olympic Games. Also, he received RM3,000 a month as a lifetime pension beginning in August 2008.[9] For the same achievement, he was conferred with a Darjah Setia Pangkuan Negeri (DSPN), which carried the title Dato' by Governor of Penang, Tun Abdul Rahman Abbas on 30 August 2008.[10]
He was appointed as UNICEF Malaysia's National Ambassador in February 2009.[11]
On 6 June 2009, Lee received the Darjah Bakti (DB) award, from Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin, in conjunction with the Birthday of Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan Agong, for his achievements in the 2008 Olympics.[12] He was in a relationship with Wong Mew Choo, his teammate.[13] In 2009, Lee and Wong announced they are no longer together during the 2009 World Championships in Hyderabad, India. However, Lee announced his reconciliation with Mew Choo after winning a silver medal in 2012 Summer Olympics.[14] They were married on 9 November 2012,[15] and had two children, Kingston and Terrance, which were born in April 2013 and July 2015 respectively.[16][17]
On 16 March 2011, Lee received Permodalan Nasional Berhad shares worth RM100,000 from Najib Tun Razak soon after his triumph in the All England Open.[18] He was appointed as KDU University College ambassador on 31 July 2011.[19]
Lee's autobiography Dare to be a Champion was officially published on 18 January 2012.[20]
Career[edit]
2002–2007[edit]
Lee picked up only one title in 2002 and 2003, reaching the final of the 2003 Malaysia Open (his first final of a major tournament) where he was defeated by Chen Hong of China.[21]
Lee then secured two titles in 2004, the Malaysia Open and the Chinese Taipei Open. Lee gained a spot for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. In his first Olympic appearance, Lee defeated Ng Wei of Hong Kong in the first round. His journey ended in the second round when he was defeated by Chen Hong.[22] Lee scored another two titles in 2005, his second Malaysia Open title and the Denmark Open. Lee won a bronze in his first appearance in the world meet, the 2005 World Championships after losing to eventual winner Taufik Hidayat in the semi-final.[23]
Lee won three titles out of six finals in 2006. He was crowned as the winner of the Swiss Open,[24] Asian Badminton Championships and his third Malaysia Open title. He also reached the final of the Chinese Taipei Open, Macau Open and Hong Kong Open. In the Malaysia Open, Lee fought back from 13–20 down in the rubber match and scored eight match points against Lin Dan, and finally won the game with a score of 23–21 to secure the title.[25] Lee won Malaysia's two gold medals in the badminton event for 2006 Commonwealth Games, in both the men's singles and mixed team events.[26] Lee reached the top spot twice in the Badminton World Federation's world rankings in 2006,[27] and he participated in the World Championships as top seed.[28] However, he was upset by Bao Chunlai of China in the quarter-final despite Lee winning at their previous meeting. The match was also marred by two controversial line calls that were not in favour of Lee.[29]
The 2007 season saw Lee failing to reach the final for the first time in five years in the Malaysia Open. He also suffered an early exit in five competitions afterward. Later on that season he took the Indonesia Open crown, his first title since the 2006 Malaysia Open after reuniting with former coach Misbun Sidek from Li Mao.[30] His performance at the second half of the year was solid, as he achieved three titles in the Philippines Open, the Japan Open, and the French Open. He also managed to reach the final of the China Open and Hong Kong Open, despite his knee injury haunting him on both occasions.[31] Lee won all matches he played in the Sudirman Cup in June, despite Malaysia finishing just fifth in the tournament.[32] Lee's low point of the year was in the World Championships, despite the tournament being held in front of his home crowd and his solid performance during the second half of the year, he was defeated in the third round to Indonesia's Sony Dwi Kuncoro.[33] Lee took a swipe at chief coach Yap Kim Hock soon after the defeat by claiming that Yap treated him indifferently and was putting pressure in his preparation for the championships.[34]
2008[edit]
Playing in the semifinals of the 2008 Olympics
Lee kicked off 2008 with success, capturing his fourth Malaysia Open title in five years.[35] He then took part in However, Lee only captured one other title that year, the Singapore Open,[36] which was the final tournament in his pre-Olympic preparations. Other tournaments he took part in were th Korea Open;[37] the All England Open;[38] the Swiss Open;[39] the Badminton Asia Championships;[40] and Thomas Cup in Jakarta, Indonesia where Lee helped Malaysia advance through to the semi-final where he defeated Lin Dan to give Malaysia a 1–0 lead in its clash with defending champion China. However, Malaysia eventually lost 2–3 due to the defeat of its first doubles team in the vital final match.[41]
In the 2008 Olympic Games, Lee was given a bye in the first round. He cruised to straight game victories over Ronald Susilo in the second round, Kęstutis Navickas in the third round,[42] and Sony Dwi Kuncoro in the quarter-finals.[43] In the semi-finals Lee Hyun-il gave him a tough fight, but eventually Lee was able to beat the South Korean and reach the final.[44] However, it was a one-sided final, as Lee was completely outplayed by Lin Dan and salvaged only 20 points, losing 12–21, 8–21.[45] He came second place overall.
Lee participated in several tournaments after the Olympic Games without capturing a title. He advanced to the finals of the Japan Open, the Macau Open and the China Open, but lost to Sony Dwi Kuncoro,[46] Taufik Hidayat,[47] and Lin Dan respectively.[48] In the French Open Lee was eliminated in the semi-finals.[49] His coach, Misbun Sidek, cited the pressure of being ranked world number one to explain Lee's recent failure to capture a title.[50]
Lee ended his last Super Series tournament of the year, the Hong Kong Open, with a sudden withdrawal due to a knee injury, conceding a walkover to Germany’s Marc Zwiebler.[51] His last minute withdrawal led to the Chinese media to tag him as the "weakest world number one".[52] The Chinese media also speculated that the three factors had hampered Lee's performance since the Olympic Games. They listed these as the stress of the Olympic final, a phobia of Lin Dan due to his lopsided Olympic defeat at Lin's hands, and (echoing Misbun Sidek's conjecture) the pressure of being the world number one.[53]
Despite Lee's recent difficulties in international play, he recorded his seventh consecutive victory at the National Badminton Grand Prix Final in Kedah on 12 December 2008, thus breaking the record of six consecutive titles set by Misbun Sidek.[54] Lee ended the year with a title in the Super Series Masters Finals. However, Lin Dan and China's other top players did not compete, their association citing injuries and fatigue.[55]
2009[edit]
Lee Chong Wei started the 2009 season with his fifth Malaysia Open title.[56] He failed to secure his first Korea Open and All England Open title despite marching into the final.[57][58] However, he secured his second title of the year in the Swiss Open which was held in Basel, defeating Lin Dan in straight sets and marking his first win in the finals against the Chinese opponent outside home turf.[59] Next, Lee was surprisingly defeated by Chen Long of China in the India Open.[60] He cited the loss was due to food poisoning and insisted the authorities improve the conditions before the World Championships.[61] In May, Lee helped Malaysia reach the semi-finals of the Sudirman Cup, the first in national history, despite his unbeaten record in the tourn