Datuk Lee Chong Wei
KUALA LUMPUR: Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) Technical Director, Morten Frost Hansen believes Datuk Lee Chong Wei stands a good chance to claim the elusive gold medal at the Rio Olympics Games come August if he is able to keep up his winning momentum.
The 58-year-old Dane asserted that this was proven after the national ace shuttler landed his sixth Indonesian Open title, yesterday and the victory saw Chong Wei reclaim the world number one spot in Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Rankings from China’s Chen Long.
The last time Chong Wei held the world number one spot was in December 2014, before receiving an eight-month backdated suspension for doping from the BWF.
“As I have said many times before, Chong Wei stands a good chance to win a (gold) medal in Rio as we all can see that he delivers in every tournament he participates.
“If he wins the Australian Open (Super Series) this week, I believe it will give a major boost from him to perform at his best at the Rio Olympics,” Frost told Bernama, today.
The Indonesian Open title is Chong Wei’s fourth this season after having already won three tournaments — Malaysia Masters in January, Malaysia Open Super Series Premier in April and the Asian Championships in China last month.
Asked whether there would be a special training for Chong Wei before heading to Rio, Frost said he would discuss the matter with Chong Wei’s coaches, Hendrawan and Tey Seu Bock.
On another note, Frost was confident that the country’s top women’s shuttler, Tee Jing Yi would be able to recover from an ankle injury before BAM name the final list of players to Rio.
Jing Yi suffered an ankle injury during the first National Grand Prix Gold, last month and the BAM had named 2015 world junior champion, Goh Jin Wei as the reserve to Rio should the player not recover from the injury.
“She (Jing Yi) only suffered a minor injury and I do not see it as a problem for her to regain her fitness before we make the final decision on who will play at the Olympics,” Frost added.
BWF has set July 18 as the deadline for entry of players to the Rio Olympics. – Bernama