Kuala Lumpur: The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) has announced that World No. 79 men’s singles player Cheam Jun Wei would fill the Asian Games spot emptied by Lee Chong Wei after Lee was diagnosed with a respiratory illness.
BAM’s president Norza Zakaria said the decision was made after his meeting with men’s singles head coach Misbun Sidek on Wednesday.
“I talked to Misbun yesterday to discuss about the player who should replace Chong Wei for the Asian Games team and men’s singles events. As noted earlier, several names have been submitted earlier including Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin, Lim Chi Wing and June Wei,” said Zakaria.
“We would probably list June Wei in Chong Wei’s place. At the same time, our medal target has also changed. Previously we’ve targeted three medals of any kind but due to Chong Wei’s withdrawal, we are now only aiming for two medals,” added Zakaria.
“As for Chong Wei, we would like to give him more time to recover, and hope he could come back strong again,” said Norza who is also the President of the Olympic Council of Malaysia (MOM).
Cheam Jun Wei won mixed doubles gold medal at the 2014 Nanjing Youth Summer Olympics. He also took home the 2018 Dutch Open men’s singles crown, and emerged runner-up at both the 2018 Finiish Open and the 2018 Austrian International.
