Lee Chong Wei

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Lee (李).

Lee Chong Wei
Personal information
Date of birth	October 21, 1982 (1982-10-21) (age 25)
Place of birth	Parit Buntar, Perak, Malaysia
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
Weight	60 kg (130 lb/9.4 st)
Men's singles
Country	Malaysia
Handedness	Right
Coach	Misbun Sidek
Highest Ranking	1 (August 24, 2006)
Current Ranking	2 (February 24, 2008)
BWF Profile

Lee Chong Wei (Simplified Chinese: 李宗伟) (born October 21, 1982) is a professional badminton player from Malaysia. He was born in Parit Buntar, Perak and later moved to Bukit Mertajam, Penang. He received his early education at Jit Sin Primary School (B) and continued his secondary education at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Berapit. He was admitted to Bukit Jalil Sports School then to complete his Form 4 and Form 5 studies.

His girlfriend is Wong Mew Choo another Malaysian badminton player. Mew Choo's won an unprecedented China Open champion for Malaysia in 2007, and is the only third non-Chinese to achieve the feat. En route to the title, she defeated European ace Pi Hongyan, world champion Zhu Lin, Olympic champion Zhang Ning and World No. 1 Xie Xingfang.

Contents 1 Badminton career 2 Style and attributes 3 Career statistics 3.1 Super Series 3.1.1 Titles 3.1.2 Runners-up 3.2 BWF tour 3.2.1 Titles 3.2.2 Runners-up 4 References

[edit] Badminton career

Lee played in 2004 Summer Olympics in men's singles, defeating Ng Wei of Hong Kong in the first round. In the round of 16, Chong was himself defeated by Chen Hong of China^[1]. In 2005 he bagged his first 5-star event in the Danish Open. He also successfully defended his Malaysia Open and bagged a bronze in the BWF World Championships^[2].

Lee Chong Wei held an unbeaten record in all tournaments held inside Malaysian territory for 3 years, from 2004 to 2006 and another win in 2008 totaling 4 all together in his home soil. He has won the Malaysia Open for three consecutive years, including 2006 in which, in what is considered one of the greatest comebacks in badminton history, he fought back from 13–20 down and saved eight gold medal points against the 2006 World champion Lin Dan, to finally wrap up the match 23–21. In 2005, he beat Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat and World No. 1 Lin Dan en route to the title.

He won the gold medal in the team event and the individual event in the 2006 Commonwealth Games. In the individual events Chong Wei fought off his fellow country man Wong Choong Hann for the gold medal beating him in two straight sets. After winning the gold medals he returned to Malaysia to win the Asian Badminton Championships title and soon after that he won the 2005 Malaysian Sportsman Of The Year Award.

In the 2006 World Badminton Championships, he disappointingly lost to Bao Chunlai of China in the quarterfinal in three tightly contested games despite dominating the first game. He was leading in the first set but his performance was eventually undone by committing too many unforced errors. He won the second game easily and both players went toe to toe in the third game before Lee Chong Wei succumbed to pressure after the score was tied at 18-18. Prior to losing this match to Bao, their head to head meetings record stood at 8-0 in favour of Lee Chong Wei. He entered the World Championship as the world ranked number one and as the top seeded player.^[3] This loss is seen as a stepback for Lee as he was favoured by many to go all the way to capture the world title.

This dismal performance was followed by another below-par outing in the 2006 Japan Open where he lost tamely to Indonesian maestro Taufik Hidayat in straight sets. These recent defeats ended his brief reign as world number one. However, it seems that his old form has returned after his victory against Bao Chunlai in the finals of the Djarum Indonesian Open 2007, the irony being that his defeat against Bao Chunlai in the World Championships in Madrid was what started his downhill slide.

Lee continued his great form later in 2007 Sudirman Cup, defeating all opponents in straight sets, including world champion, Lin Dan whom he clearly outclassed throughout the game. Lee was also clearly controlling the final match against Chen Hong in 2007 Philippines Open.

Homeground pressure got to him in the 2007 World Badminton Championships in Kuala Lumpur, and Lee exited the tournament after losing to Sony Dwi Kuncoro in the last 16^[4]. Lee was quick to make amends, and barely a month later continued his good run of form by upsetting Lin Dan on-route to win the 2007 Japan Open.

Later, he defeated Chunlai once again to lift the French Open title, having lost to the same opponent the previous week in the Denmark Open semifinal. Another confrontation with Bao Chunlai in the China Open final in Guangzhou led to another loss.

He recently defeated Lee Hyun-il at the 2008 Malaysia Open to clinch his fourth victory there in the last five years.

In the 2008 Thomas Cup, he was unstoppable, winning all of his matches in straight sets,including thrashing Lin Dan 21-12,21-14..Chong wei was aggresive and applied the right strategies in beating Lin Dan, but at the end Malaysia eventually lost the team event 2-3.

He is currently coached by Misbun Sidek.

[edit] Style and attributes

Lee Chong Wei's most well known attribute is his signature forehand cross court smashes and incredible defensive ability. His cross court shots are accomplished by using a heavy angle on his racquet head, and he plays incredible inside slices. He frequently retrieves attacking shots by diving towards the shot with an outstretched racket, then quickly recovering to his feet in time to continue the rally. Not only does he dive to keep a rally going, he also sometimes plays winners when he dives. Even Lin Dan has suffered Lee's defense on countless occasions.

Lee is also known for his smooth and efficient footwork that makes him one of the fastest singles player in the circuit. His strength in the third set (attributed to incredible fitness) and his all around deceptive and accurate strokes are also well known. In terms of his weaknesses he will sometimes make too many unforced errors at inopportune times, get trapped at the back corners of the court, and sometimes has difficulty finishing off rallies once he has gained an advantage.

[edit] Career statistics

[edit] Super Series

[edit] Titles

Date	Tournament	Opponent in final	Score
2007	Indonesia Open	Bao Chunlai	21–15, 21–16
2007	Japan Open	Taufik Hidayat	22–20, 19–21, 21–19
2007	French Open	Bao Chunlai	21–11, 21–14
2008	Malaysia Open	Lee Hyun-il	21–15, 11–21, 21–17

[edit] Runners-up

Date	Tournament	Opponent in final	Score
2007	China Open	Bao Chunlai	12–21, 13–21
2007	Hong Kong Open	Lin Dan	21–9, 15–21, 15–21
2008	Swiss Open	Lin Dan	13–21, 18–21

[edit] BWF tour

[edit] Titles

Date	Tournament	Opponent in final	Score
2003	Malaysia Satellite
2004	Malaysia Open	Park Sung-hwan	15–13, 15–12
2004	Chinese Taipei Open
2005	Malaysia Open	Lin Dan	17–15, 9–15, 15–9
2005	Denmark Open	Muhammad Hafiz Hashim	17–14, 15–8
2006	Swiss Open
2006	Asian Badminton Championships	Boonsak Ponsana	21–12, 21–16
2006	Malaysia Open	Lin Dan	21–18, 18–21, 23–21
2007	Philippines Open	Chen Hong	21–9, 21–15

[edit] Runners-up

Date	Tournament	Opponent in final	Score
2003	Malaysia Open	Chen Hong
2003	India Satellite
2004	Singapore Open
2006	Chinese Taipei Open
2006	Macau Open
2006	Hong Kong Open	Lin Dan	19–21, 21–8, 16–21

[edit] References