Kuala Lumpur: According to Malaysian media, deputy president of the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) Datuk Norza Zakaria has confirmed that Badminton World Federation (BWF) will hear Lee Chong Wei’s case at the first week of February.
“We will not request any more postponement and Chong Wei’s hearing will be set in the first week of February,” said Datuk Norza.
“We requested the extension previously because we needed extra time to gather more evidence so that we could build a strong case for Chong Wei,” added Norza.
The 2016 Rio Olympics qualification period for badminton will start in May 4th, 2015. If Lee Chong Wei receives a 6-month or lesser ban, and the time of ban starts from the date where that incident occurred (August 30th, 2014), Lee Chong Wei could still eligible for the 2014 All England tournament which will be held in March 3, 2015.
If Lee receives a 1 year ban, then, he will have to start chasing the important Olympic qualifying points starting September 2015 to earn as much points as possible before the Olympics qualifications period ends at the end of April 2016.
If Lee receives ban of anywhere between 1 and a half year to two years, he may choose to retire from badminton. His retirement would be detrimental to the sport of badminton and would be absolutely heartbreaking for badminton fans worldwide.
Please sign this petition, and help convince the Badminton World Federation (BWF) that the sport of Badminton needs Lee Chong Wei, and we need Lee Chong Wei to continue playing too!
