Kuala Lumpur: The top 10 men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles, and mixed doubles BWF rankings released Tuesday remained unchanged about a week after the badminton legend Lee Chong Wei announced his retirement from the sport.
This week’s rankings have drawn a lot of attention around the world mainly because of the badminton king – Lee Chong Wei’s retirement decision. Following his announcement, his name has been removed from the standings, and also marked the end of an era in badminton.
In Lee’s illustrious career, he won a total of 69 singles titles, holding an incredible 348 weeks as World No. 1, with 199 consecutive weeks between 2008 and 2012. He also won total of 46 BWF World Superseries titles, 12 Malaysia Open titles, 4 All-England, three Olympic silver medals, five Commonwealth Games titles, two Asian Championships, and three silvers at the World Championships.
In addition, he also recorded an overall 705 wins and 134 losses in his career.
Lee was diagnosed with an early stage nose cancer mid last year. After going through a grueling treatment process in Taiwan with 33 sessions of photon therapy, he was still hoping for a last shot at gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. However, after returning from Taiwan last October, he had not been able to increase his training intensity without permission from his doctors.
Following his latest medical check-up in late April this year, his doctors advised him not to put himself under too much pressure and to reduce high-intensity training to avoid a relapse of his cancer. That ultimately led to his retirement announcement in Putra Jaya, Malaysia last Thursday.
BadmintonPlanet.com would like to wish Lee Chong Wei all the best as he begins a new chapter in his life, may it be full of joy, health and happiness, we all love you!
