Chong Wei feeling down right now, give him space — BAM
KUALA LUMPUR: Being forced to withdraw from two major competitions this year due to his poor health condition has caused national shuttler Datuk Lee Chong Wei to feel down.
Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) secretarygeneral Datuk Ng Chin Chai said as such, he hoped that all parties would continue giving their support to Chong Wei who had contributed a lot the country throughout his 17 years of involvement in badminton.
According to him, Chong Wei, who was suffering from a respiratory-related disorder needed to undergo treatment for a month and any further details on the national badminton ace’s condition would not be disclosed in respect of his request.
“Datuk Mohamad Norza Zakaria (BAM president) and I have met with Chong Wei, he is feeling down right now. We respect his privacy. What is important for him now is to recover.
“During this recovery period, we ask the public and the media to give Chong Wei and his family some space. We pray for his speedy recovery,” he told reporters at the Malaysian Badminton Academy (ABM), Bukit Kiara yesterday.
Several media reports were quoted as saying that the former world number one had not joined the training with other shuttlers at the academy this week after returning from the Indonesian Open earlier this month, raising doubt whether he was ready to take part in both World Championships and also the Asian Games.
In a media statement issued yesterday, BAM announced that the player would not participate in the BWF World Championships scheduled for July 30 to Aug 5 in Nanjing, China, and the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games set to be held from Aug 19 to Sept 2 in Indonesia.
On the cause of Chong Wei’s health problem, Ng said BAM was not informed about the matter.
He said BAM also took seriously Chong Wei’s current health condition and would ensure that all players under the national badminton parent body would undergo regular medical check ups. - Bernama