CHONG WEI’S FIT AND RARING TO GO
Shuttler’s training sessions increased to six times a week
LEE Chong Wei’s participation in the Sudirman Cup (in May) is still unclear, but the former World No 1 has apparently shown improvement in training. National men’s singles coach Hendrawan disclosed yesterday that Chong Wei will start training six days a week beginning tomorrow, but for one session (a day) only.
Prior to this, the 37-year-old shuttler, who was diagnosed with nose cancer last July, trained three times a week.
Chong Wei, whose last competitive match was at the Indonesia Open last year, returned to court for training in January, after undergoing treatment in Taiwan.
“He (Chong Wei) has been showing signs of improvement, so we are increasing the frequency of his training from three days a week to six.
“However, his training sessions will only be during the day. There will be no evening sessions yet,” said Hendrawan at the Academy Badminton Malaysia in Bukit Kiara yesterday.
Chong Wei is in a race against time as he
wants to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. However, it seems to be a tall order as he has not played in over nine months,
The three-time Olympic silver medallist has already put his much-anticipated return on hold twice after being advised by his doctor in Taiwan.
First, he skipped the All England (March) before pulling out of next week’s Malaysia Open at the Axiata Arena.
And given his current condition, Chong Wei looks doubtful for the Sudirman Cup in Nanning, China, on May 19-26, which happens to be the first tournament to offer Olympic qualifying ranking points.
National men’s singles head coach Misbun Sidek has made it clear that he will only name the fittest players for the world mixed team event and not compromise on selecting players just for the sake of it.
On whether Chong Wei’s improvement was good enough to see the 12time Malaysia Open champion make the Sudirman Cup squad, Hendrawan added: “I can only tell you that Chong Wei will start training six days a week.
“There have been no talks on the Sudirman Cup yet.”