Malaysian legend’s world-title dream gets French fried
GLASGOW — This wasn’t what Malaysian legend Lee Chong Wei put off retirement for.
He’d beaten Brice Leverdez seven times previously, including en route to winning another All England Open in March.
But on Tuesday, he couldn’t shrug off the Frenchman and his 10th attempt to win a first world championship ended with a 21-19, 22-24, 21-17 firstround loss.
Lee, runner-up at three worlds and both Olympics since 2011, lost to a non-seed for the first time at the worlds.
The Malaysian suspended retirement after the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in the hope of winning an elusive world championship. He even lured back his old coach, Misbun Sidek, last month after a sixyear separation to work on his mental side.
Sidek guided him to No 1 in the world for the first time in 2006.
But Lee looked nervous and was outplayed at the net by Leverdez, who grinned throughout the 75-minute match and couldn’t believe he’d won.
“I was trying to be as lighthearted as possible,” the Frenchman said. “Mostly, it was about staying relaxed. I had fun since the first point, no matter if I won or lost the point. At 17-all he lost his mind and gave me the match with three easy points.”
Inevitably, Lee was asked about retirement, even though he’s ranked No 2 in the world and remains a force to be reckoned with.
“Maybe I’ll retire tomorrow,” he quipped. “Everybody wants to know if I will play until Tokyo 2020. I will see if I have the fire.”
He showed some fire only at the end of the second game, when he came back from a 13-18 deficit to lead 20-18.
Leverdez leveled, then had two match points and thought he won the second. But Lee challenged the “out” call against him on the line at the umpire’s feet, and was saved by video replay which showed the shuttlecock was in by a millimeter.
Lee had momentum in the third game, and won a rally including a shot between his legs from the baseline. But Leverdez was unfazed. He reached match point again after three unforced errors by Lee, and finished off the second seed with another smash at the net.
Meanwhile, defending twotime champion Chen Long of China won in straight sets, while third-seeded Viktor Axelsen of Denmark won comfortably after losing the first game to Takuma Ueda of Japan.
Chen has a 1-1 record with his next opponent, Sony Dwi Kuncoro, a two-time worlds medalist whose best days were a decade ago.
The Indonesian has only two singles wins on tour this year.
Chen’s teammate, 10thseeded Tian Houwei, was stretched to three sets before beating Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus of Denmark, 21-14, 17-21, 21-16.
On the women’s side, topseeded Akane Yamaguchi of Japan and 2013 champ Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand were easy winners.
Three Chinese women’s player — Sun Yu (fifth seed), Chen Yufei (ninth seed) and Chen Xiaoxin (14th seed), making their worlds debut, all won in straight sets.