Hero

Lee Chong Wei

Personal information
Date of birth October 21, 1982 (age 26)

Place of birth George Town, Penang

Height 1.74 m (5 ft 81⁄2 in)

Weight 60 kg (130 lb; 9.4 st)
Men's singles
Country Malaysia

Handedness Right
Coach Misbun Sidek


Highest Ranking 1 (29 June 2006 – 20 July 2006,
24 August 2006
– 21 September 2006,
21 August 2008 –)
Current Ranking 1 (20 November 2008)
BWF Profile

Olympic medal record
Competitor for Malaysia

Men's badminton

Silver 2008 Beijing
Men's Singles

World Championships

Bronze 2005 Anaheim
Men's Singles

Datuk Lee Chong Wei (simplified Chinese: 李宗伟; pinyin: Lǐ zōng wěi, born in George Town, Penang; October 21, 1982) is a professional badminton player from Malaysia who resides in Bukit Mertajam.Lee won the silver medal in the 2008 Olympic Games, thus becoming the first Malaysian to reach the final of the men's singles event and ending Malaysia's Olympic medal drought since the 1996 Games. This achievement also earned him the title Datuk, and a description by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak as national hero.
As a singles player, Lee was again ranked first worldwide on August 21, 2008.He is the third Malaysian men's singles shuttler after Rashid Sidek and Roslin Hashim to achieve such a ranking (since official rankings were first kept in the 1980s), and is the only Malaysian shuttler to hold the ranking for more than two weeks.
Lee has won many international badminton titles in his career, including nine Super Series titles. However, despite his status among the world elite, Lee has only managed to capture bronze (in 2005) at the BWF World Championships and has never won the prestigious All England Open. Lee has also been unable to lead Malaysia to victory in the highly coveted biennial Thomas Cup (men's international team championship), despite his number one rankings during the 2006 and 2008 events.
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Personal life
In his early years, Lee favoured basketball, however his mother soon banned him from that activity due to the searing heat of the outdoor basketball court. Lee began to learn badminton at the age of 11, when his father, who liked to play the game, brought him to the badminton hall. Attracting the attention of a local coach, the coach asked Lee's father if he could take him as a student. After receiving the nod from his father, the coach began to train Lee after school.Discovered by Misbun Sidek, he was drafted into the national squad when he was seventeen years old.
On November 3, 2006, Lee was involved in a car accident. On his way to Bukit Jalil after dinner, he was knocked from behind by a vehicle which had lost control after a tyre burst. He was then sent to the Sunway Medical Centre and treated with six stitches for his head injury.
Lee received RM300,000 on August 21, 2008, as a reward for his silver medal effort in the 2008 Olympic Games. Also, he received RM3,000 a month as a lifetime pension beginning in August 2008.For the same achievement, he was conferred with a Darjah Setia Pangkuan Negeri (DSPN), which carries the title Datuk by Governor of Penang, Tun Abdul Rahman Abbas on August 30, 2008.
On June 6, 2009, Lee received the Darjah Bakti (DB) award, from Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin, in conjuction with the Birthday of Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan Agong, for his achievements in the 2008 Olympics.
He is in a relationship with Wong Mew Choo, his teammate.
Career
2002–2007
Lee picked up only a title in 2002 and 2003, major achievement in reaching the final of the 2003 Malaysia Open, his first final of major tournament, tame to defeat in the hands of Chen Hong of China.
Lee then secured two titles in 2004, the Malaysia Open and Chinese Taipei Open. Lee gained a spot for 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. In his first Olympics appearance, Lee defeated Ng Wei of Hong Kong in the first round. His journey ended in the second round when he was beaten by Chen Hong.Lee then bagged another two titles in 2005, his second Malaysia Open title and Denmark Open. Lee bagged bronze in his first appearance in the world meet, the 2005 World Championships after losing to eventual winner Taufik Hidayat in the semifinal.
Lee then wrapped up three titles out of six finals in 2006. He was crowned as the winner of Swiss Open. Asian Badminton Championships and his third Malaysia Open title. He also reached the final of the Chinese Taipei Open, Macau Open and Hong Kong Open. In the Malaysia Open, Lee pulled an amazing comeback, as he fought back from 13–20 down in the rubber game and saved eight match points against Lin Dan, and finally wrapped up the game 23–21 to secure the title. Lee helped Malaysia bagged two gold medals in the badminton event for 2006 Commonwealth Games in March, in both men's singles and mixed team event.Lee reaches top spot twice in Badminton World Federation's world rankings in 2006, and he participated in the World Championships as top seed. However, he was upset by Bao Chunlai of China in the quarterfinal despite Lee holds all win in previous meeting. The match was also marred by two controversial line calls that were not in favour of Lee.
The 2007 season saw Lee failing to reach the final for the first time in five years in Malaysia Open, he also suffered an early exit in five competitions afterward and only saw him bounce back and took the Indonesia Open crown, his first title since the 2006 Malaysia Open after reuniting with former coach Misbun Sidek from Li Mao. His performance at the second half of the year was solid, as he achieved three titles in Philippines Open, Japan Open, and French Open. He also managed to reach the final of the China Open and Hong Kong Open, despite his knee injury haunting him on both occasions. Lee won all matches he played in Sudirman Cup in June, despite Malaysia finished only fifth in the tournament. Lee's lowlight of the year was in World Championships, despite the tournament held in front of his home crowd and his solid performance during the second half of the year, he was upset in the third round to Indonesian's Sony Dwi Kuncoro. Lee swipe at chief coach Yap Kim Hock soon after the defeat by claiming that Yap treated him indifferently and was putting pressure in his preparation for the championships.

2008

Lee Chong Wei playing in the semifinals of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing
Lee kicked off year 2008 in success, capturing his fourth Malaysia Open title in five years. However, Lee only captured his second title of the year in Singapore Open,also the final tournament in his pre-Olympic preparations, just after five tournaments he took part, in Korea Open; All England Open; Swiss Open; Badminton Asia Championships; and Thomas Cup in Jakarta, Indonesia where Lee helped Malaysia advanced through to the semifinal where he defeated Lin Dan to give Malaysia a 1–0 lead in its clash with defending champion China. However, Malaysia eventually lost 2–3 due to the defeat of its first doubles team in the vital final match.
In the 2008 Olympic Games, Lee was given a bye in the first round. He cruised to straight game victories over Ronald Susilo in the second round, Kęstutis Navickas in the third round, and Sony Dwi Kuncoro in the quarterfinals. He had a scare in the semifinals where Lee Hyun-il gave him a tough fight, but eventually Chong Wei was able to beat the South Korean and reach the final. However, it was a one-sided final, as Lee was completely outplayed by Lin Dan and salvaged only 20 points, losing 12–21, 8–21.
Lee participated in several tournaments after the Olympic Games, without capturing a title. He advanced to the finals of the Japan Open, the Macau Open and China Open, but lost to Sony Dwi Kuncoro, Taufik Hidayat, and Lin Dan respectively. In the French Open Lee was eliminated in the semifinals. His coach, Misbun Sidek, cited the pressure of being ranked world number one to explain Lee's recent failure to capture a title.
Lee ended his last Super Series tourney of the year, the Hong Kong Open, with a sudden withdrawal due to a knee injury, conceding a walkover to Germany’s Marc Zwiebler. His last minute withdrawal led to the Chinese media to tag him as the "weakest world number one". The Chinese media also speculated that three factors had hampered Lee's performance since the Olympic Games. They listed these as the stress of the Olympic final, a phobia of Lin Dan due to his lopsided Olympic defeat at Lin's hands, and (echoing Misbun Sidek's conjecture) the pressure of being the world number one.
Despite Lee's recent difficulties in international play, he recorded his seventh consecutive victory at the National Badminton Grand Prix Final in Kedah on December 12, 2008, thus breaking the record of six consecutive titles set by Misbun Sidek. Lee ended the year with a title in the Super Series Masters Finals, however, Lin Dan and China's other top players did not compete, their association citing injuries and fatigue.
2009
Lee started 2009 season with his fifth Malaysia Open title. He failed to secure his first Korea Open and All England Open title despite marching into the final. However, he secured his second title of the year in the Swiss Open which was held in Basel, defeating Lin Dan in straight sets and marking his first win in the finals against the Chinese opponent outside home turf. Next, Lee surprisingly was defeated by Chen Long of China in the India Open. He cited that the loss was due to food poisoning and insisted the authorities to improve the conditions before the World Championships.In May, Lee helped Malaysia reached the semi-finals of the Sudirman Cup, the first in national history, despite his unbeaten record in the tournament being blown by Lin Dan. He bagged another two titles in June, the Indonesia Open, and the Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold, despite failing to defend his Singapore Open title when he surprised by Nguyen Tien Minh in the second round.


Awards and honours
On April 5, 2006, Lee was named the 2005 National Sportsman Award (Anugerah Sukan Negara in Malay) for consistency and focus in his game. He repeated the honour as the Sportsman for 2008 on March 23, 2009, for his performance during the Olympic Games.
On April 29, 2006, he was named 2005 Penang Sportsman for his performance in the 2005 IBF World Championships and 2005 All England Open Badminton Championships.He repeated the honour on November 18, 2008 as the 2007 Penang Sportsman.
On December 12, 2008, he was selected as Malaysia's Male Olympian 2008 for his achievement as the only Malaysian to win a medal in 2008 Summer Olympics.
On June 12, 2009, Lee named as the winner of the Sportswriters Association of Malaysia (SAM) awards.
He was appointed as UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 2009.


Reasons Why We Admire Lee Chong Wei

We admire Lee Chong Wei's never give up spirit. He does not give up even though he almost lost the game and would still struggled hard to fight back. This spirit can be seen in Malaysia open 2006 when he played against Lin Dan from China. During the finals, Lee Chong Wei almost lost the game by only having 13 points whereas Lin Dan had 20 points and 1 point to go will made him won the game. However, Lee Chong Wei never give up and he fight back. This had enable him to turn the game around after gaining 8 points in a row. It was a shock for everyone and had always been a great example for others.

Furthermore, Lee Chong Wei's good-tempered and good sportsmanship had always been a good example for all of us. He does not throw his racket and show any bad attitude although he had lost the game. He will still smile to crowd and sign autograph for his fans.