No Commonwealth Games outing, no problem for Chong Wei

PETALING JAYA: World No. 7 shuttler Lee Chong Wei will leave it to the national body to decide whether to field him or a junior player at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, next year.

The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) have listed the 34-year-old’s name with 25 others for the multi-sport Games.

Only five men and five women will be selected.

“My name has been included. I’ll play if they want me to. I’m fine if they don’t want me,” said Chong Wei, the singles champion at the 2006 (Melbourne) and 2010 (New Delhi) editions.

“I’ve played in the Commonwealth Games before. I can’t go on playing in all the major tournaments. There are many majors next year.”

Besides the Commonwealth Games, the other main events are the Thomas Cup Finals in Thailand in May, World Championships in China in July and the Asian Games in Indonesia in August.

But the Commonwealth Games badminton gold is probably the easiest to win as Malaysia’s main challengers will be India, England and Singapore.

“I’m fine if the BAM field a back-up player or a junior,” said Chong Wei.

“If a junior is chosen, he will get a chance to experience something new. He will also learn how to handle the pressure of playing in a major tournament.

“I don’t want to be seen as someone who wants to play in all the tournaments. I’m getting older too.

“I’ll leave it to BAM. Any decision is good with me. If chosen, I’ll give my 100%. If not, I’ll give my 100% support to the junior selected.

“At this age, I just want to enjoy the game without unnecessary worries and pressure.”

The other men’s singles players hoping to be given the chance to strut their stuff are Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin, Lee Zii Jia, Lim Chi Wing, Soong Joo Ven, Cheam June Wei, Soo Teck Zhi, Tan Jia Wei, Leong Jun Hao and Yeoh Seng Zoe.