Lee Chong Wei

Discovered in the crowd

Lee was born in Bagan Serai, Perak,into a Malaysian Chinese family, to Lee Ah Chai and Khor Kim Choi. Lee Chong Wei is a Malaysian professional badminton player whose commendable performances in the game for many years have earned him the title ‘Dato’ and the status of a national hero. In his early years, he 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 local coach Teh Peng Huat, who asked Lee’s father if he could take him as a student. After receiving his father’s consent, Teh began to train Lee after school. Discovered by Misbun Sidek, he was drafted into the national squad when he was seventeen years old.

Personal life

He was in a relationship with Wong Mew Choo, his teammate. 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.  They were married on 9 November 2012,and had two children, Kingston and Terrance, which were born in April 2013 and July 2015 respectively.

Highlights in the career

Lee made his first landmark in the Super Series titles. It was no major feat that he won the All England Open, the world’s most esteemed badminton championship; his first. Lee bagged the only title not won by Chinese players, when he defeated Lin Dan in the Japan Open. The year 2010 was quite eventful for Lee Chong Wei. He won the ‘Gold Medal’ in the Commonwealth Games, 2010 and a ‘silver medal’ in the Asian Games. Lee bagged his second consecutive Hong Kong Open title and third consecutive Super Series Master Finals title.

Lee was recognised by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak for winning the All England Open for the third time in a row in 2011. He tasted success for the first time in India Open. Lee became the first non-Indonesian player to win the Indonesian Open for three consecutive times.

Lee Chong Wei won a ‘silver medal’ in the Olympic Games 2012. Lee won the ninth Malaysian Open title in 2013 and beat the record of maximum number of home titles held by Wong Peng Soon. He bagged the Masters Finals title for the fourth time in the Super Series tournament. Lee won his tenth Malaysian Open title in 2014. He grabbed the Japan Open for the third year in a row.

Lee won the US Open, Canada Open and the French Open in 2015. He won his first China Open title by defeating Lin Dan, his arch rival. This was Lee’s first victory over Lin Dan on Chinese soil.

Lee became the first Badminton player in men’s singles to win all the titles of the Super Series.

An all-time fighter

Lee Chong Wei has won his battle against cancer and is back on the badminton court.

Diagnosed with early stage nose cancer in September 2018, Lee underwent “nightmare treatment” in Taiwan that took away his ability to speak and eat. But 2019 has started in the best way possible with a cancer all-clear from his doctors in Taiwan.

Chong Wei knew something was wrong way back in the middle of 2018. He just didn’t know how wrong. A check-up in July hardly broke Lee’s rhythm: hours and hours on the badminton court perfecting the skills that have brought him three Olympic silver medals.

It was after one of these sessions that he received the worst news of his life at 36 years old.

His wife was waiting, the doctors had called her.

In November 2018 Lee announced a press conference and rumours flew, speculation flooding social media that Malaysia’s most celebrated athlete was about to end his career. His commitment to his sport, and to playing for his country. was never in question, and he wasn’t going to just quit in the face of adversity. Lee Chong Wei’s health took a hit ahead of the World Badminton Championships last year due to which he withdrew from the Worlds and the Asian Games.  Ever since, Chong Wei has been out of action. But speaking post his first training session after the Chinese New Year holiday, he said he is yet to intensify his training regime and is waiting for a nod from his doctor in March.

Chong Wei explained that his Malaysian Open return and full training will depend on the results of his check-up next month but Badminton Association of Malaysia will submit his name for the tournament.

Big plans for the future

Determined and defiant on his return to rehab and training, Lee insists that he wants to compete at Tokyo 2020. Chong Wei however pointed out that the path ahead to qualify for the Olympics will be anything but easy as he will need to compete with fellow national shuttlers Lee Zii Jia and Liew Daren.

“I am hoping that I can remain in good shape so that I can prepare as best as I possibly can for the Olympic qualifying campaign,” he said.

No more LCW – thanks for everything

Former World No. 1 Lee Chong Wei on june 13 2019 announced his retirement from badminton after 19 years following a battle with cancer.

Lee Chong Wei finally met an opponent he couldn’t beat.
The after-effects of nose cancer forced the badminton great to announce his retirement on Thursday after a hall-of-fame worthy career. Even though he was cleared of cancer, Chong Wei hasn’t played any tournaments this year because his shoulders weren’t strong enough to endure the stress of the high-intensity training that extended his professional career to 19 years.
Chong Wei was expected to retire after the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016, when he won his third consecutive singles silver medal, but he was so driven to win Malaysia’s first Olympic gold that he played on in hope of retiring after next year’s Tokyo Games, when he would be 37. 
He even took a month, after a visit to doctors in Japan revealed the damage done to his body in recovery, to come to terms with having to stop playing professionally.