Kuala Lumpur: After the Badminton World Federation (BWF) have opted against giving twice Olympic silver medalist Lee Chong Wei a wildcard for the 2015 world championships in Jakarta, Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) have been left with no option but to choose 2 of the 3 most eligible players, namely Lee Chong Wei, Chong Wei Feng and Zulfadli Zulkifli for the tournament.
BAM deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Norza Zakaria told reporters on Saturday (after meeting with athletes for the SEA Games in Singapore at the National Sports Institute) that BAM Executive committee will try to resolve the issue before May 14.
“We have put a lot of effort into resolving Chong Wei’s doing case, our goals are to allow him to play in several huge tournaments and to collect enough qualifying points for the Rio Olympics,” said Norza.
“Any Malaysian shuttlers that play in the World Championships will have to be sanctioned by BAM, and I can assure you we will conduct the selection process fairly,” added Norza.
Based on the latest BWF rankings released two days ago, Chong Wei Feng and Zulfadli Zulkifli were ranked 32nd and 41st in the world, and Lee Chong Wei was placed 46th in the world following an eight-month suspension after failing a doping test last August.
Lee Chong Wei who is currently playing at Dongguan, China for the Sudirman Cup, has made his appearances at the World Championship since 2005, the 2015 world championships would be his ninth appearance should BAM decide to send him to Jakarta.
