Chong Wei now a lieutenant commander in Royal Malaysian Navy
By JEENA
KUALA LUMPUR: Don’t be surprised if former world No. 1 shuttler Lee Chong Wei does a Lin Dan by responding with a smart salute if he wins the gold medal at the London Olympics,
He has every reason to do so as he is now officially a lieutenant commander of the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) – albeit an honorary one. Yesterday, Chong Wei became the first national sportsman to be bestowed with the honorary commission at Pulapol yesterday.
“I will surely salute if I win a gold medal in London,” said a beaming Chong Wei, dressed in a striking white RMN uniform, showing off the two medium gold braid stripes on his shoulder.
Spick and span: Lee Chong Wei making a salute after being officially named as a lieutenant commander of the Royal Malaysian Navy Thursday.
In the past, four-time world champion Lin Dan of China, who had represented the People’s Liberation Army team, had always raised his hand in salutation - especially after major wins. Who can forget the image of Lin Dan saluting with pride after beating Chong Wei for the gold at the Beijing Games four years ago - and on many other occasions after that.
Hopefully, the role will be reversed this time in London.
Chong Wei was ecstatic to be appointed sports ambassador for the Malaysian navy.
“This is one of the highest ranks bestowed on a sportsman and I’m very honoured. This was given with the consent of our King and I’m ready to live up to the responsibility that this award brings,” said Chong Wei.
“It means always presenting a good image as an icon of the navy. This uniform certainly makes one feel and look good but it comes with a heavy responsibility. I vow to be a good role model.
“This is also a timely motivation for me to be more focused and disciplined in my preparation for the London Games.”
Chong Wei is racing against time to be fully fit to face the arduous task of winning the country’s first Olympic gold medal.
He is well on the road to recovery after injuring his ankle during the Thomas Cup Finals in Wuhan in May. But the training time lost may prove to be a setback although Chong Wei is determined to push himself in the remaining three weeks before the start of his biggest challenge.
Besides Lin Dan, he will have to contend with two other China aces in Chen Long and Chen Jin.
Veterans Peter-Gade Christensen of Denmark, Indonesia’s Taufik Hidayat and South Korea’s Lee Hyun-il will also be there but none of them are expected to end their final Olympics on a golden note as they have been struggling with injuries and the ravages of time.
“I’m not at my best yet but this is my last Olympics so I’m going to give it my all to make it a memorable outing,” said the 29-year-old Chong Wei of his third Olympic Games.
The draw for the men’s singles event will be made on July 23.
The 40 men’s singles qualifiers will be divided into 16 groups with only the group winners advancing to the elimination round.
Posted By jeena
LIFE BECOMES TOO DIFFICULT FOR LEE CHONG WEI AFTER HAVING AN ANKLE INJURY AHEAD OF LONDON OLYMPICS
Life becomes too difficult for Lee Chong Wei after having an ankle injury ahead of London Olympics
Malaysia’s top player in Men’s Singles category, who is the only visible hope to bring country’s first gold medal in Olympics, is facing many problems as especially the slow recovery process of his injury that makes the life quite difficult for him.
Chong Wei, who has been remained consistent at the top position in Men’s Singles world ranking for a period of more than three years, got a severe injury in his right ankle while playing against the Danish shuttler Peter Hoeg Gade in a team-event match between Malaysia and Denmark at the last month’s Thomas Cup Finals 2012 at Wuhan, China.
The Malaysian was taken to hospital immediately and found out that he tore his ligament and was sent back to home for proper treatment.
The recovery process of Chong Wei is in progress but he qualms over the slow progress and is still uncertain to live up to the expectations of his countless fans all over the world especially in Malaysia.
However, the huge expectations drive him on and he is doing light training and also consumes time in workouts at gym to maintain his strength.
The 29-year-old Chong Wei is the major threat to the power-packed line up of formidable Chinese shuttlers. Besides the top Malaysian, there is no other commendable player in the world of badminton who has a consistent record against the top players from China.
While talking about his recovery from injury, Chong Wei said that it is quite challenging to spend half a day in the rehabilitation process.
He said, “It’s been tough spending 12 hours daily, from 7am till 7pm, on my rehabilitation. A lot depends on getting back to my old form and that means extra hard training.”
He further added, “I’m on court at 7.30 in the morning for light training before going for physiotherapy. Then I have aqua-therapy to work on my upper body strength. I also do gym work later in the evening. This has been my daily routine since the injury.”
Despite the ankle injury, Chong Wei is working hard to stretch him to the limit to maintain his fitness as much as possible as, according to him, there is not short cut to remain fit without putting in extra effort.
Chong Wei is doing every possible thing to recover from injury but at the same time he is not hundred percent sure whether he will be fully fit or not before the 2012 Olympics.
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