Lee Chong Wei

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Lee Chong Wei

Personal information

Birth name

Malaysia

Country

Born

21 October 1982 (age 33)

Bagan Serai, Perak

Residence

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Height

1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)

Weight

60 kg (130 lb; 9.4 st)

Handedness

Right

Coach

Hendrawan

Men's singles

Career record

609 wins, 117 losses

Career title(s)

60

Highest ranking

1 (18 December 2014)

Current ranking

5 (17 December 2015)

Medal record[hide]
Men's badminton
Competitor for
Malaysia
Olympic Games
2012 London

Men's singles

2008 Beijing

Men's singles

World Championships
2015 Jakarta

Men's singles

2013 Guangzhou

Men's singles

2011 London

Men's singles

2005 Anaheim

Men's singles

Asia Championships
2006 Johor Bahru

Men's singles

Thomas Cup
2014 New Delhi

Team

2010 Kuala Lumpur

Team

2008 Jakarta

Team

2006 Sendai/Tokyo

Team

Sudirman Cup
2009 Guangzhou

Team

Asian Games
2010 Guangzhou

Men's singles

2014 Incheon

Men's singles

2014 Incheon

Men's team

2006 Doha

Men's singles

2006 Doha

Men's team

Commonwealth Games
2010 Delhi

Men's singles

2010 Delhi

Mixed team

2006 Melbourne

Men's singles

2006 Melbourne

Mixed team

Southeast Asian Games

2005 Manila

Men's team

2005 Manila

Men's singles

2015 Singapore

Men's team

World Junior Championships

2000 Guangzhou

Boys' singles

BWF profile

Updated on 12:52, 20 November 2015 (UTC).

Dato' Lee Chong Wei (born 21 October 1982 in Bagan Serai, Perak ) is a Malaysian
Chinese professional badminton player. As a singles player, Lee was ranked first worldwide for
199 consecutive weeks from 21 August 2008 to 14 June 2012. He is the third Malaysian player
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 number one ranking for more
than a year.
[1]

[2]

[3]

Lee is a silver medalist in both the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games, making him the sixth
Malaysian to win an Olympic medal and the first Malaysian to reach the finals in the men's
singles event, ending Malaysia's Olympic medal drought since the 1996 Games. This
achievement also earned him the title Dato', and a description by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib
Tun Razak as a national hero. He repeated the achievement four years later in London, thus
making him the most successful Malaysian Olympian in history.
[3]

[4]

[5]

Personal life[edit]
In his early years, Lee favoured basketball, however his mother soon banned him from the game
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 his father's consent, 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.
[6]

[7]

Lee received RM300,000 on 21 August 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 carried the title Dato' by Governor of Penang, Tun Abdul Rahman Abbason 30
August 2008.
[8]

[9]

He was appointed as UNICEF Malaysia's National Ambassador in February 2009.

[10]

On 6 June 2009, Lee received the Darjah Bakti (DB) award, from Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin, in
conjunction with the Birthday of Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan Agong, for his
achievements in the 2008 Olympics. He was in a relationship withWong Mew Choo, his
teammate. In 2009, Lee and Wong announced they are no longer together during the 2009
World Championships in Hyderabad, India. However, Lee announced his reconciliation with Mew
Choo after winning a silver medal in 2012 Summer Olympics. They were married on 9
November 2012, and had two children, Kingston and Terrance, which were born in April 2013
and July 2015 respectively.
[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15][16]

On 16 March 2011, Lee received Permodalan Nasional Berhad shares worth RM100,000 from
Najib Tun Razak soon after his triumph in the All England Open. He was appointed as KDU
University College ambassador on 31 July 2011.
[17]

[18]

Lee's autobiography Dare to be a Champion was officially published on 18 January 2012.

[19]

Career[edit]
20022007[edit]
Lee picked up only one title in 2002 and 2003, reaching the final of the 2003 Malaysia Open (his
first final of a major tournament) where he was defeated by Chen Hong of China.
[20]

Lee then secured two titles in 2004, the Malaysia Open and the Chinese Taipei Open. Lee
gained a spot for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. In his first Olympic appearance, Lee
defeated Ng Wei of Hong Kong in the first round. His journey ended in the second round when
he was defeated by Chen Hong. Lee scored another two titles in 2005, his second Malaysia
Open title and the Denmark Open. Lee won a bronze in his first appearance in the world meet,
the 2005 World Championships after losing to eventual winner Taufik Hidayat in the semi-final.
[21]

[22]

Lee won three titles out of six finals in 2006. He was crowned as the winner of the Swiss Open,
Asian Badminton Championships and his third Malaysia Open title. He also reached the final of
the Chinese Taipei Open, Macau Open andHong Kong Open. In the Malaysia Open, Lee fought
back from 1320 down in the rubber match and scored eight match points against Lin Dan, and
finally won the game with a score of 2321 to secure the title. Lee won Malaysia's two gold
medals in the badminton event for 2006 Commonwealth Games, in both the men's singles and
mixed team events. Lee reached the top spot twice in the 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 quarter-final despite Lee winning at their previous
meeting. The match was also marred by two controversial line calls that were not in favour of
Lee.
[23]

[24]

[25]

[26]

[27]

[28]

The 2007 season saw Lee failing to reach the final for the first time in five years in the Malaysia
Open. He also suffered an early exit in five competitions afterward. Later on that season he 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
[29]

he achieved three titles in the Philippines Open, the Japan Open, and the 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 the Sudirman Cup in June,
despite Malaysia finishing just fifth in the tournament. Lee's low point of the year was in
the World Championships, despite the tournament being held in front of his home crowd and his
solid performance during the second half of the year, he was defeated in the third round to
Indonesia's Sony Dwi Kuncoro. Lee took a 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.
[30]

[31]

[32]

[33]

2008[edit]
Lee kicked off 2008 with success, capturing his fourth Malaysia Open title in five years. He then
took part in However, Lee only captured one other title that year, the Singapore Open, which
was the final tournament in his pre-Olympic preparations. Other tournaments he took part in were
th Korea Open; the All England Open; the Swiss Open; the Badminton Asia Championships;
and Thomas Cup in Jakarta, Indonesia where Lee helped Malaysia advance through to the
semi-final where he defeated Lin Dan to give Malaysia a 10 lead in its clash with defending
champion China. However, Malaysia eventually lost 23 due to the defeat of its first doubles
team in the vital final match.
[34]

[35]

[36]

[37]

[38]

[39]

[40]

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, Kstutis Navickas in the third round, and
Sony Dwi Kuncoro in the quarter-finals. In the semi-finals Lee Hyun-il gave him a tough fight,
but eventually Lee 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
1221, 821. He came second place overall.
[41]

[42]

[43]

[44]

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 the China Open, but lost to Sony
Dwi Kuncoro, Taufik Hidayat, and Lin Dan respectively. In the French Open Lee was
eliminated in the semi-finals. His coach, Misbun Sidek, cited the pressure of being ranked world
number one to explain Lee's recent failure to capture a title.
[45]

[46]

[47]

[48]

[49]

Lee ended his last Super Series tournament of the year, the Hong Kong Open, with a sudden
withdrawal due to a knee injury, conceding a walkover to Germanys 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 the 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.
[50]

[51]

[52]

Despite Lee's recent difficulties in international play, he recorded his seventh consecutive victory
at the National Badminton Grand Prix Final in Kedah on 12 December 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.
[53]

[54]

2009[edit]
Lee Chong Wei started the 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 was surprisingly defeated by Chen Long of China in the India Open. He
cited the loss was due to food poisoningand insisted the authorities improve the conditions
before the World Championships. In May, Lee helped Malaysia reach the semi-finals of
the Sudirman Cup, the first in national history, despite his unbeaten record in the tournament
being blown out by Lin Dan. He won 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 was
taken by Nguyen Tien Minh in the second round.
[55]

[56][57]

[58]

[59]

[60]

[61]

[62]

[63]

[64]

Lee kicked off the second half of the season with defeat by Sony Dwi Kuncoro in the world
meets, but went on to win the Macau Open in August. He reached the semi-final in the China
Masters, but once again failed to beat his all time rival Lin Dan. Then, Lee participated in the
Japan Open. He only managed to reach the second round of the Open, before winning the
Hong Kong Open in November. His inconsistency saw him tumble down in the first round of the
China Open. In December, Lee defended his Super Series Masters Finals title, which saw the
competition played without the top badminton players in the world.
[65]

[66]

[67]

[68]

[69]

[70]

[71]

2010[edit]
Lee started the year with the title in all events he took part, his first treble in the Super Series
titles. He gained his first ever Korea Open crown, sixth Malaysia Open, and defeated Kenichi
Tago to win the oldest and prestigious badminton championship in the world, the All England
Open, his first since he took part in 2004.
[72]

[73]

[74]

Lee participated in the Thomas Cup in his home ground. He managed to defeat Kenichi Tago
and take the first point, despite Malaysia's eventual loss (23) to Japan. In the quarter-finals, he
beat Peter Gade, thus helping to secure Malaysia's place in the semi-finals. In the semi-finals
against China, Lee was defeated by Lin Dan, which ended his 18-match unbeaten record since
the start of the year.
[75]

[76]

[77]

In June, Lee participated in the Singapore Open losing in the quarter-finals. However, Lee
bounced back winning the Indonesia Open, Malaysian Open Grand Prix Gold in July, and
Macau Open in August. In late August, Lee suffered a shock exit in another attempt for
the World Championships, but was beaten by Taufik Hidayat in the quarter-finals. Misbun cited
that the loss was due to the back injury he picked-up after the match against Rajiv Ouseph in the
third round. On 26 September, Lee beat his arch rival Lin Dan in the Japan Open, the only title
not taken by Chinese players in the tournament.
[78]

[79]

[80]

[81]

[82]

[83]

[84]

In October, he helped Malaysia to beat India to defend the gold medal at the 2010
Commonwealth Games mixed team event, then he successfully defended his gold medal once
again in the singles event a few days later. The following month he won a silver medal at
the Asian Games. Despite beating reigning World Champion Chen Jin in the semi-final, Lee once
again tasted defeat at the hands of his great rival, Lin Dan, in the final. At season's end, he won
his second consecutive Hong Kong Open title, and third consecutive Super Series Master
Finals title, where the tournament was held in January 2011.
[85]

[86]

[87]

[88]

2011[edit]
In January, Lee won his seventh Malaysia Open title by defeating Taufik Hidayat from Indonesia
in the final. However, he failed to defend the Korea Open title, the world's first ever million-dollar
badminton tournament, after being beaten by Lin Dan from China in three games. In March,
Lee cruised into the final of the All England Open for the third consecutive time and retained his
title successfully with a convincing straight games victory over Lin Dan, and was praised by
prime minister Najib Tun Razak.
[89]

[90]

[91]

On Labour Day, he won his first ever India Open, and also his third consecutive Malaysia Open
Grand Prix Gold title a week later. Despite the fact that Lee won all the matches he played
during the Sudirman Cup, Malaysia's journey ended in quarterfinals, after being beaten by South
Korea 23.
In late June, he won the Indonesia Open, becoming the first non-Indonesian
player to complete the hat-trick in the tournament.
[92]

[93]

[94][95][96]

[97]

Lee's hopes of becoming the first Malaysian to win gold in the World Championships were
dashed after defeat by Lin Dan in the final. Lee led for most of the match but lost two important
match points in the rubber game. In September, Lee also failed to defend his Japan
Open crown after defeat by China's rising star Chen Long. In October, he lost to Chen Long
again in his bid for his second Denmark Open title. He won the French Open a week later.
This was followed by triple semi-finals exit in the Hong Kong Open, the China Open, and
the Super Series Master Finals.
[98]

[99]

[100]

[101]

[102]

[104]

[103]

2012[edit]
Playing in the semifinals of the 2012 Olympics

Lee started the Olympic year with the first Super Series tournament of the season, the Korea
Open. In a repeat of the previous year's final, he avenged his loss to Lin Dan by defeating him in
three sets. A week later, he captured his fifth straight and eighthMalaysia Open title, thus
equalling the number of home titles held by Wong Peng Soon who won them between 1940 and
1953.
[105]

[106]

In March, Lee lost in the All England Open when he bowed out in the second game after
receiving medical help on three occasions. This also dashed Lee's hopes of becoming the first
man to win three successive All England Open titles. In April, he was defeated by South
Korean Shon Wan-ho in the final of the India Open, but retained his Malaysia Open Grand Prix
Gold title for the fourth time in a row in May. Lee was out for three to four weeks after suffering
an ankle injury during the Thomas Cup Group C tie against Denmark.
[107]

[108]

[109]

[110]

Lee returned to the court for the first time after recovering from his injury to play in the London
Olympic Games. He closely beat Ville Lng of Finland in rubber games for the first round, and
blamed pressure for close defeat. In the second round, he eased to a victory against
Indonesia's Simon Santoso, before beating Kashyap Parupalli of India in the quarter-finals. In
the semi-finals, he beat Chen Long of China in straight sets despite early predictions that Chen
would be difficult to beat, and set up a repeat of 2008's final against Lin Dan. This is the second
meeting in the Wembley Arena for both players after the 2011 World Championships. Lee led the
match after winning the first game but Lin brought it to the rubber games. Despite leading for
most of the time in the third game, Lin managed to level the point and edge him narrowly by 21
19, forcing Lee to settle for silver once more. BBC Sport analyst Gail Emms said, "You couldn't
have asked for any more from Lee Chong Wei."
[111]

[112]

[113]

[114]

[115]

[5]

[116]

He won the Japan Open and Denmark Open on his return since the London Olympic Games,
but lost in the final of the Hong Kong Open, only a few days after his marriage. Lee ended
the year with a loss in the opening match of the Super Series Master Finals and subsequently
pulled out of tournament due to thigh injury.

[117]

[118]

[119]

[120]

2013[edit]
Lee took the Korea Open title for the third time. A week later, he captured his ninth Malaysia
Open title, which broke the record of eight titles previously held by Wong Peng Soon. Lee then
lost in the final of the All England Open to Chen Long. Lee said he was disappointed with his
performance during the tournament, despite marching into the final.
[121]

[122]

[123][124]

In April, he lost in the semi-finals of the Australia Open, to the young Chinese player Tian
Houwei. He then won the second India Opentitle and fifth Indonesia Open.
In August, Lee
eventually marched into the final of the World Championships, but Lee's hopes were once again
dashed in a repeat of his 2011 final and 2010 Asian Games defeat against Lin Dan. He suffered
leg cramps late into the third game. After attempting to continue, he had to retire and was
subsequently stretchered to hospital.
[125]

[126][127]

[128]

After the World Championships, Lee participating in four Super Series tournaments. First, he
took the Japan Open title for fourth time. Then, he lost in the final of Denmark Open and
semifinal of the French Open,
and triumph again in the Hong Kong Open.
[129]

[130][131]

[132]

Lee won record fourth Masters Finals title, the season ending Super Series tournament.

[133]

2014[edit]
In January, Lee lost in the final of Korea Open to Chen Long, his fourth straight defeat by the
Chinese. He recorded his tenth Malaysia Open title a week later. Soon after the triumph, he
announced this would be his last Malaysia Open outing, as he would assess his condition after
the Asian Games and may retire if the results are not good.
[134]

[135]

Further, he won his third All England Open and India Open title respectively.
However, he
was stunned by Simon Santoso in final of the Singapore Open. Lee won every match he
contested during the Thomas Cup campaign, Malaysia reached the finals, only losing to Japan
with a score of 32.
[136][137]

[138]

[139]

In June, he won the Japan Open for the third consecutive year and fifth time overall. He lost in
the semifinals of the Indonesia Open, this also ended his hope of nine straight Super Series
finals.
[140]

[141]

In August, Lee came second for the third time at the World Championships, losing to Chen Long
of China in straight sets. He again lost to Chen in the semifinals of Asian Games team
competition, and lost to Lin Dan in semifinals of singles event few days later.
[142]

[143]

[144]

2015[edit]
The Sudirman Cup was Lee's first tournament after serving an eight-month suspension for a
doping violation. He went on to win all three matches he played in the tournament. He then
took back to back titles by winning the US Open and Canada Open. Lee again had to settle for
the second at the World Championships as he lost to Chen Long in the final.
[145]

[146]

[147]

After the World Championships, Lee endured three early round exits. First, in the second round
of the Japan Open, followed by the qualifying rounds of the Korea Open, and then in the
second round of Denmark Open.
[148]

[149]

[150]

After three early round losses, Lee bounced back to win the French Open, followed by his first
ever China Open title, thus making him the first ever men's singles shuttler to have won all Super
Series titles. The following week, Lee won the Hong Kong Open. However Lee did not qualify
for the Super Series Finals. Therefore ending the year with three back-to-back titles.
[151]

[152]

[153]

Doping[edit]
In October 2014, local media reported that the Badminton Association of Malaysia has confirmed
that one of the nation's top shuttlers has tested positive for dexamethasone after urine samples
were taken during the World Championships in late August. The identity of the shuttler was not
revealed but was widely believed to be Lee Chong Wei. Dexamathasone is not a performanceenhancing drug but a commonly-administered anti-inflammatory corticosteroid that is not illegal
when used off-season for injury rehabilitation, but deemed illegal if discovered in an athlete's
body during competition.
[154]

[155]

On 5 November 2014, Lee flew to Norway to witness the testing of his "B" sample at the Oslo
University Hospital after the "A" sample had already been tested positive in October. The
results were announced on 8 November 2014 by a Malaysian sports official who confirmed that
the "B" sample had tested positive as well. He declined to identify the player but confirmed to
The Associated Press that it was Lee.
[156]

[157]

On 11 November 2014, the Badminton World Federation confirmed that Lee is temporarily
suspended from competing due to an apparent anti-doping regulation violation. The hearing
was held on 11 April 2015 in Amsterdam.
[158]

[159]

On 27 April 2015, it was announced that Lee has been handed a backdated eight-month ban for
his anti-doping rule violation. The panel was convinced that Lee had no intent to cheat and
allowed him to resume his career by 1 May 2015. Lee was stripped of his silver medal from the
2014 World Championships but allowed to keep his two bronze medals from the 2014 Asian
Games.
[160]

Awards[edit]
Below is the list of awards won by Lee.
Awards

Year

Total

Ref

Penang Sportsman Award

2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011,

2012

[161][162][163][164][165][166][167]

National Sportsman Award

2005, 2008, 2011, 2012

[168][169][170][171]

BWF Player of the Year Award

2009, 2010, 2011, 2013

[172][173][174]

TYT Prime Award Trophy

2008, 2010, 2012

[163][165][167]

Olympian of the Year Award

2008, 2012

[175][176]

Sportswriters Association of Malaysia (SAM)

Award

2008

[177]

Most Popular Icon on Television Award by RTM

2013

[178]