Chong Wei touched by show of support

SEPANG: Lee Chong Wei returned home yesterday with a heavy heart after his failure to nail the first gold medal for Malaysia in the Olympics.

But getting a hero’s welcome at the Kuala Lumpur International Aiport (KLIA) brought back the smile on his face. About 300 people with huge congratulatory banners greeted Chong Wei and the Malaysian badminton team at the arrival hall to the beat of the kompang and thunderous applause.

On Sunday, Chong Wei suffered his worst defeat by China’s Lin Dan in the men’s singles final. Still, the silver medal was Malaysia’s best result in 12 years at the Olympics and the best achievement by a singles player

Chong Wei appreciated the show of support.

“I was sad because I could not win gold medal for the country. Many would have been disappointed with the manner I lost. But from the welcome I received today, I felt as though I had won the gold medal,” he said.

“I am glad that the nation is still supportive of me despite my defeat.

“This means a lot to me. It will only spur me on to work even harder to achieve more good results for the country.”

Chong Wei said that the experience playing at the Beijing Games was priceless.

“There were days that I could not sleep and there were days when I had no appetite to eat. The pressure was great. But I have no excuse for the defeat. Lin Dan was so fast, he had improved so much,” he said.

Chong Wei hoped for more singles talent to emerge for Malaysia.

“The next two major tournaments are the World Championships (2009) and the Asian Games (2010). With the help of my coach (Misbun Sidek), I will be ready for these tournaments,” he said.

“But like China, I hope that there will be more than one Malaysian singles player vying for honours in these tournaments. It helps when one can support the other, just like the players from China.”

Misbun said that he would not waste time as far as grooming new talent was concerned.

“The training will be tougher from now for Chong Wei. I want to get him ready for the next Olympics. At the same, my work will start immediately to groom other Olympians. This will be my challenge,” said Misbun.

Meanwhile, the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) president, Datuk Nadzmi Mohd Salleh, admitted that the doubles pairs were a letdown and said that there was a possibility of splitting the partnership of Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong, who crashed out in the second round

The BAM plan to have a review at the end of the month and will announce their new training and coaching set-up.