Malaysian Sports Icon, Datuk Lee Chong Wei Hangs Up His Racket

The nation was shocked by the news of national shuttler, Datuk Lee Chong Wei’s retirement from the badminton arena. During the press conference held yesterday in Putrajaya, he said the decision was made in the best interest of his health – “I was given eight questionnaires to answer about my conditions and the outcome came out to show that I’m not fit to do high intensity activities. So it’s not suitable for me to exert myself for the sake of my health.”

Needless to say, Dato Lee Chong Wei was a force to be reckoned with. Throughout his monumental career spanning close to two decades, Chong Wei has achieved phenomenal success that many can only dream of with three Olympic silver medals, 348 weeks as World No. 1 and 69 titles under his belt which includes 47 titles from the Superseries circuit.

Source via says.com

Other notable accomplishments would be his winning streak in the Malaysian Open for 11 consecutive times. (from 2004 to 2018). Besides that, he also became the first non-local player to earn the winning title in the Indonesian Open six times.

Source: Instagram

Following his official announcement, he took to Facebook to pour his heart out, thanking Malaysians for their constant support – “To every one of you, who have been a part of my life, thank you. A real big sincere thank you.” He also apologised for not being able to deliver Malaysia’s first Olympic gold and encouraged his successors to not give up the dream.

In return, fellow Malaysians and badminton fans took to social media to pay tribute to the badminton star. View some of the touching comments below.

Source: Lee Chong Wei/Facebook

Minister of Youth and Sports, Syed Saddiq said that the badminton legend has been selected as Malaysia’s Chef De Mission to #Tokyo2020 and will continue inspiring Malaysian athletes.

Thank you, Datuk Lee Chong Wei for your contribution to Malaysian competitive badminton and for uniting the nation! We wish you the best of health!