Datuk Lee Chong Wei: The Malaysian Badminton Hero

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Datuk Lee Chong Wei is our Malaysian hero.He was born 0n 21 October 1982 in Bagan Serai, Perak. He is a professional badminton player of Malaysian Chinese who resides in Bukit Mertajam. As a single player,Datuk Lee Chong Wei was ranked first worldwide for 199 consecutive weeks from 21 August 2008 to 14 June 2012. He is the third Malaysian men's single shuttler after Rashid Sidek and Roslin Hashim to achieve such a ranking (since official rankings were first kept in the 1980s), and is the only Malaysian shuttler to hold the ranking for more than two weeks.

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Datuk Lee Chong Wei is a silver medalist in both the 2012 Olympic Games and 2008 Olympic Games, thus becoming the first Malaysian to reach the final of the men's singles event and ending Malaysia's Olympic medal drought since the 1996 Games.

This achievement also earned him the title Datuk, and a description by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak as a national hero. He repeated the achievement four years later in London, thus making him the most successful Malaysia Olympian in history.

In his early years, Datuk Lee Chong Wei favoured basketball, however his mother soon forbade him from the game due to the searing heat of the outdoor basketball court. Lee began to learn badminton at the age of 11, when his father, who liked to play the game, brought him to the badminton hall. Attracting the attention of a local coach, the coach asked Lee's father if he could take him as a student. After receiving the nod from his father, the coach began to train Lee after school.

Discovered by Misbun Sidek, he was drafted into the national squad when he was seventeen years old. Datuk Lee Chong Wei kicked off year 2008 in success, capturing his fourth Malaysia Open title in five years.

However, Lee only captured his second title of the year in Singapore Open, also the final tournament in his pre-Olympic preparations, just after five tournaments he took part, in Korea Open; All England Open; Swiss Open; Badminton Asia Championships; and Thomas Cup in Jakarta, Indonesia where Lee helped Malaysia advanced through to the semifinal where he defeated Lin Dan to give Malaysia a 1–0 lead in its clash with defending champion China. Datuk Lee Chong Wei started the year with the title in all events he took part, his first treble in the Super Series titles. His first ever Korea Open crown, sixth Malaysia Open, and defeated Kenichi Tago to win the oldest and prestigious badminton championship in the world, the All England Open, his first one since he took part in 2004.Datuk Lee Chong Wei participated in the Thomas Cup in his home ground.

He managed to defeat Kenichi Tago and take the first point, despite Malaysia's eventual loss (2–3) to Japan. In the quarter finals, he beat Peter Gade, thus helping to secure Malaysia's place in the semi-finals. In the semi finals against China, Lee was defeated by Lin Dan, which ended his 18-match unbeaten record since the start of the year. In January, Lee won his seventh Malaysia Open title by defeating Taufik Hidayat from Indonesia in the final. However, he failed to defend the Korea Open title, the world's first ever million-dollar badminton tournament, after being beaten by Lin Dan from China in three games. In year 2012,Datuk Lee Chong Wei started the Olympic year with the first Super Series tournament of the season, the Korea Open. In a repeat of the previous year's final, he avenged his loss to Lin Dan by defeating him in three sets.In March, he lost in the All England Open when he bowed out in the second game after receiving medical help in three occasions.

This also dashed his hopes of becoming the first man to win three successive All England Open titles. In April, he was defeated by South Korean Shon Wan-ho in the final of the India Open, but retained his Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold title for the fourth time in a row in May. Datuk Lee Chong Wei was out for three to four weeks after suffering an ankle injury during the Thomas Cup Group C tie against Denmark. Lastly,Datuk Lee Chong Wei returned to the court for the first time after recovering from his injury to play in the London Olympic Games. In the semi-finals, he beat Chen Long of China in straight sets despite early predictions that Chen would be difficult to beat, and set up a repeat of 2008's final against Lin Dan.[114]

This is the second meeting in the Wembley Arena for both players after the 2011 World Championships. He led the match after winning the first game but Lin Dan brought it to the rubber games. Despite leading for most of the time in the third game, Lin Dan managed to level the point and edge him narrowly by 21–19, forcing him to settle for silver once more. However, Datuk Lee Chong Wei is our Malaysian hero. We all love him and look forward him of getting gold medal in the year 2016.