Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia’s badminton legend, Lee Chong Wei donated RM 2 million to the Malaysian Badminton Association (BAM) and the National Sports Council (NSC), through the Lee Chong Wei Foundation on Saturday.
Among the donations, RM1.4 million was given to BAM for the development of the sport of badminton while NSC received RM600,000 from Lee who announced his retirement from the sport on June 13, 2019.
Lee told Malaysian media at the National Sporting Month celebration in Bukit Jalil on Saturday that he would like to do whatever he could to help Malaysian athletes to compete at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“Playing at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics was my dream, unfortunately, I had to retire due to health reasons. I hope this funding could be used for athletes to qualify for the Olympics,” said Lee.
Later Saturday, Lee posted statement below on his Facebook in regards to the donation.
“Working hard is very important. More importantly, the support system. A talent, an athlete without support goes to waste. In Malaysia we were lucky to have those Majlis Sukan Sekolah Daerah events up to Majlis Sukan Sekolah Malaysia tournaments. Then we have the Kem Tunas Cemerlangs, also the BAM sponsored state tournaments. Only through these events, gems are polished and winners are born.
Badminton was my whole life, and it will continue to be.
Lee Chong Wei Foundation decided to contribute 1.4 million Ringgit to BAM and 600k Ringgit to MSN. Hopefully with this little contribution, another batch of winners will be found. We had our finger tips on the Olympic Gold. I believe, it will be ours very very soon. My dreams, are in your hands”
So far, there were total of eight Malaysian athletes who have officially qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, including Pandelela Rinong, Leong Mun Yee, Nur Dhabitah Sabri and Wendy Ng Yan Yee (diving); Khairulnizam Mohd Afendy and Nur Shazrin Mohd Latif (sailing); Khairul Anuar Mohamad (archery) and Farah Ann Abdul Hadi (gymnastics).
