Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian badminton superstar Lee Chong Wei has decided to only take a short Chinese New Year break before returning to Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM), helping his juniors to prepare for the Badminton Asia Team Championship (BATC) that will compete in Hyderabad, India from Feb. 15 to Feb. 22.
With the relatively young team that contained plenty of talents through Zulfadli Zulkiffli, Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin, Soo Teck Zhi and Soong Joo Ven in men’s singles and Tan Kian Meng-Low Juan Shen, Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi and Tan Chee Tean-Tan Wee Gieen in men’s doubles, Lee would be their inspirational role model to get the team ready for the Thomas Cup qualifier event in Hyderabad.
“I’ll only take 2 days off of training for the Chinese New Year. I will be back on the second day of Chinese New Year to help and to train with them,” said the World No. 2.
Lee also revealed that he will next play at the All England Badminton Championships slated to be held from March 8 to March 13.
“I was not there last year, but I will try to put together a good showing in the prestigious tournament this year,” said Lee.
With thousands of world ranking and Olympic qualification points up for grabs in the All-England Open Badminton Championships, all the world’s best players such as Chen Long and Lin Dan of China, Kento Momota of Japan, Denmark’s Jan O Jorgensen and Viktor Axelsen, India’s Kidambi Srikanth, and Indonesia’s Tommy Sugiarto are attracted to the tournament to be held in Birmingham, England.
