Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia’s badminton legend Lee Chong Wei who originally was planning to play the All England, but has decided to delay his comeback to the Malaysia Open, might postpone his much anticipated return to the court once again as he needed more time to strengthen his overall fitness level.
Lee who was diagnosed with early-stage nose cancer last July, underwent an extremely challenging treatment in Taiwan, where at one point he was having difficulty or pain when swallowing. However, instead of retiring from the sport, Lee continued to show the remarkable spirit of a fighter and had resumed training in January of 2019.
However, the President of Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) Mohamad Norza Zakaria would like the badminton fans to set realistic expectations that it is possible for the three-times Olympic silver medalists to skip the Malaysia Open.
“I advise badminton fans to lower their expectations for Chong Wei to play at Malaysia Open. He will go to Taiwan this Sunday for his follow-up medical evaluation,” said Zakaria
“Based on my conversation with him, I would say we should ‘lower the expectation’ but the final decision really depends on the doctor who treats him. Regardless, I am sure that he will be playing at the Sudirman Cup in May,” added Zakaria.
Zakaria insisted that full recovery from the nose cancer treatment is more important than having Lee to compete at a tournament immediately.
Despite the nose cancer setback, Lee’s main goal is still able to compete at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
