BAM pay tribute to veteran Chong Wei for his selfless act

THE Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) president Datuk Seri Norza Zakaria gave a special tribute to Lee Chong Wei for his selfless role in his last Thomas Cup Finals.

Although Malaysia crashed out in the quarter-finals after a 3-1 defeat to Indonesia on Thursday, the 35-year-old Chong Wei won all his matches – including straight-game victories over world champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark and Anthony Ginting of Indonesia.

“I express my thanks to Chong Wei.

“He delivers all the time. At his age, he defeated Viktor and Ginting. He has done his job,” said Norza.

“The onus is on us to find Chong Wei’s replacement,” Norza said, adding that the BAM would focus on building a generation of new players.

And he was happy to see the rise of Lee Zii Jia, Leong Jun Hao and Aaron Chia-Teo Ee Yi at the Finals.

“I’m sorry we lost in the quar- ter-finals. I’m not blaming anyone. Our opponents were better and we accept the defeat. But I’m happy we saw the players for the future in the team,” said Norza.

“We’ll rely on new players from now on. Zii Jia and Aaron are new faces, they played well but lost (against Indonesia) because of pressure.

“They’ve gained experience and we’ll continue to invest on them,” he said.

Norza still had faith in Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong although they did not deliver points against Denmark (final group tie) and Indonesia.

“V Shem-Wee Kiong are still our top pair and we’ll try to balance between the young and old. We’ll not wait for youngsters to be ready but push them at all times ... it has to be a robust system.

“We’ll invest in characters and personalities like Zii Jia and Aaron to bring our badminton to greater heights,” he said.