Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia’s badminton legend Lee Chong Wei hosted a “Meet-and-Greet with Malaysian Badminton Hero” event on Saturday, also introducing the new Yonex badminton racket ASTROX99 LCW at the Datuk Wira Lee Chong Wei Badminton Academy in Perak.
During the ceremony, Lee Chong Wei said that he needed times adapting to transition from an athlete to serving as chef de mission for the 2020 Malaysian Olympic Team.
“I still have a lot of things to learn as the chef de mission for Malaysia, but I will do my utmost best to assist the Malaysian team in the Olympics. Most athletes are now in the qualifying stage for the Olympics. The final list of qualified delegates will be announced on May 1, 2020,” said Lee.
Speaking about the Yonex ASTROX99 LCW badminton racket, Lee Chong Wei pointed out that was the sixth racket Yonex has specially built for him in the last 15 years. It took Yonex about 1 year to conduct many tests and improvements, before it was finally launched globally on Saturday.
“Yonex has chosen my favorite green color as the main color for the racket. It is designed for attacking players and suitable for singles players. The racket was originally created with intention of me using it at the 2019 World Championships, but I was forced to retired due to health problems,” added Lee.
Lee also said the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) had offered him a chance to join the national team as one of the coaches, but the former World No. 1 player said for now he only wanted to focus on his family as well as the chef de mission responsibility at the 2020 Olympics
“Everyone knows after I hang up my racket, I haven’t gone on a honeymoon yet and in one more week I will be spending time with my family visiting several countries,” said Lee.
Despite his retirement, Lee revealed that Yonex continued to sponsor him hoping to inspire more young people to follow Lee Chong Wei’s spirit of never giving up.
