Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad posted a video on Facebook to thank Lee Chong Wei’s contribution of raising Malaysia’s profile through so many memories and victories in his legendary badminton career on Thursday.
The second part of the video also featured his spouse, Dr. Siti Hasmah binti Haji Mohamad Ali offering some words of encouragement following Lee’s retirement.
Below is the transcription of Dr. Mahathir Mohamad’s video in English.
“I feel sad that our champion Lee Chong Wei has retired.
I hope he can have good rest and also making good progress towards recovery.
Thanks a lot to Chong Wei because he has put Malaysia in the world of sports by becoming a champion many times.
We will feel the loss of a champion because Chong Wei was forced to retired (due to the early-stage nose cancer),”
The 37-year-old badminton legend announced his retirement from badminton after an illustrious 19-year career two days ago.
Lee overtook Lin Dan by surging to the top of the world rankings in 2006 when he was 24. Lee then spent a total of 348 weeks as World No. 1, including 199 straight weeks from August 2008 to June 2012.
Among his greatest achievements was winning the Malaysian Open for a record of 12 times, four All England titles (2010, 2011, 2014, 2017), and three Olympic silver medals (Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio de Janeiro 2016).
