Chong Wei won’t be ‘alone’ anymore in overseas tournaments

Help is at hand for Lee Chong Wei (centre) as he will have coach Hendrawan (left) or Tey Seu Bock with him in overseas tournaments from now on. - The STAR Filepic

KUALA LUMPUR: Either Tey Seu Bock or Hendrawan will accompany former world No. 1 Lee Chong Wei for overseas assignments from now on.

They are the two coaches entrusted with the task by the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) coaching and training committee, who met on Wednesday.

Neither one of the trainers were with Chong Wei initially in his last two tournaments in Japan and South Korea, where the player lost in the early rounds and qualifying.

This has prompted BAM to act to ensure Chong Wei gets the best support in his quest to qualify for the Rio Olympics next year by doing well in the Superseries events.  

Chong Wei, currently ranked No. 24, is Malaysia’s most successful singles player, having won two Olympic silver medals. He also reached the world championships final in Jakarta last month, where he lost to Chen Long of China.

“It’s not easy to come back after eight months suspension and get back to the world No. 1 spot. He needs to get back his match fitness and match temperament.

“It’s always going to be tough but I believe he can do it again,” said BAM technical director Morten Frost, who has also been tasked with finding a suitable training camp in North America for Chong Wei in the last three weeks before he competes in the Rio de Janeiro Games next August.

The upcoming overseas meets for Chong Wei are the Denmark Open (Oct 13-18) and French Open (Oct 20-25).