Lee Chong Wei makes quick exit from World Badminton Championships

In first major upset of 2017 World Badminton Championships, number two seed Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia went down to France’s Brice Leverdez in three sets to exit the tournament without a medal.

Glasgow / There is one iconic shot of badminton legend Lee Chong Wei that stops the heart a wee bit more than the full-throttle jump smash where he is four feet up in air. It’s the one where he scurries chasing the shuttle with his back to the net. The run abruptly ends with a flat backhand flick mid-stride over the net — almost bat blind to where it might land, as he turns on his heel in a jiffy and stands ready for the next shot. It worked beautifully on Tuesday for a fleeting few seconds — and gave a stadium the sand-in-hand hope that the Malaysian legend could turn back time.

It didn’t end in tears because Chong Wei has perfected the tight-lipped, dignified, smiling acceptance after losing 7 out of 7 finals (3 Olympics and 4 World Championships). But short of a meltdown, it all ended in the most heartbreaking fashion as Frenchman Brice Leverdez won 21-19, 22-24, 21-17 in 75 minutes bringing the stadium to a mooring silence as a lifetime of the legend’s struggles to win the big titles flashed before the eyes. The 35-year-old Chong Wei’s challenge ended in a pool of errors unable to deal with Leverdez’s short attack, as the 31-year-old stayed dogged through a second-game comeback from the legend, flattering to deceive once more in his career.

In the press conference that followed his shock exit in Round 1, Chong Wei mulled aloud with a painful pursed-lipped politeness when asked if this was the end. “Now you ask me, I don’t know. I don’t know my plan. Maybe I’ll retire tomorrow,” he replied. “I’ll have to go back and see if I still have the fire in me. But tomorrow I don’t know,” he said, looking miserably lost.

“How did the pressure affect you?”

“It affected me, right? I lost in the first round!” he said with a tight smile.

The story of the eternal ‘best man’ of badminton is the sport’s most profound tale over the last decade and a half. But should this be his last match, it will tell in a nutshell the story of how it never worked out for someone who is almost-perfect, and put in shade by the brilliance of Lin Dan.

Chong Wei would struggle from the start, the first few points split equally between him and Leverdez. Still, a first-game loss could’ve been dismissed as a rusty start as it’s been in several tournaments in recent years before he’s picked up. However, the torrid errors continued into the second, as the Frenchman stuck to a plan of attacking both flanks and Chong Wei looked awfully out of touch. 14-18 down, he would level at 20, and be saved by a mistimed albeit borderline shuttle as a lucky referral pushed the match into a decider. He would lead by 5 points in the third, but again feel a rash of silly errors, while Leverdez rode his luck on the net and for once, Chong Wei seemed resigned to give up.

The Frenchman’s single-point warning to himself had been to never lift the shuttle — to deny Chong Wei the opening.

“I never give up, I keep trying again, but today I did my best but it didn’t work out,” Chong Wei would say later, murmuring about how he’d won the All England this year and beaten Leverdez there, so it wasn’t a demon in his head. The All England — in what’s been a story of his life — despite its tradition, is a Super Series event only, and the biggies have eluded him in scorching public glare. He had his coach of many years Misbun Sidek by his side, but it didn’t help on this day. “When people keep saying ‘You don’t win, you don’t win’, it’s so difficult to accept this and carry on. That’s why he’s so special in Malaysia, he’s something meaningful for our country,” the coach would say later.

Chong Wei is Malaysia’s biggest star — the heartbeat of a country which unfortunately boasts only one other No 1 — Nicole David, the woman squash player, whose sport isn’t on the Olympics programme. “We give him whatever he wants in support, because he’s the greatest. He’s maintained discipline, so the country will always support him. We’re not communist, so we won’t push him out. He’ll be supported for as long as he wants,” said teammate Yogendra Krishnan.

Considerable support
Malaysian fans had travelled all over from the UK, and left having lost their voices but not their pride in the man. “We’re disappointed because he’s the only one. But we keep supporting him no matter what,” said 28-year-old Wei Chun Lee, who works in London and had travelled overnight. “Not a wink of sleep whole night, and now we’ve lost our will to do anything,” he would say.

The French and Malaysian fans had built up quite a din, and the whole stadium stopped in its stride, when the drama of the second game unfolded – Chong Wei two match points down, eking out an escape one last time at these Worlds where he was seeded 2nd. “We keep telling ourselves the pressure is so much on him, that it’s tough to win,” Lee Gran Hui, 24, said, having cried after the Rio finals where despite beating Lin Dan in the semi-finals, Chong Wei had come up short against the steady Chen Long.

“Our second favourite player is Lin Dan. Though he’s beaten Chong Wei so many times (27 in 39 meetings), they played some of the best matches in the sport and are both legends,” she added, not regretting once having to put herself through the grief of ending as the second-best always. “Not just us. Our parents’ generation too. He means the world to Malaysians old and young.”

Misbun, the lanky, upright coach has been besides Chong Wei for most of his life, and counts the Malaysian Open win against Danish Peter Gade in 2004 as his ward’s best. “It really impressed me because I knew after that win that this person will fly Malaysia’s flag high.”

Misbun would talk about how though he initially came from a modest family where securing himself financially was the first target, his ward did not stop at just that. “It’s difficult to find a talent like Chong Wei, because he had the extraordinary desire to be the best. Obedient, skillful and strong, our success was my brain and his energy,” he would explain, adding that “the 2008 Beijing final would remain his closest brush at the Olympics.”

Misbun though conceded that Chong Wei did bring on pressure onto himself. “Sometimes when you take badminton too seriously, you can’t play well. He’s good when he’s joyful, but not when he’s under pressure. But now sometimes I see him enjoying, sometimes not.”

When asked the pressure-poser, Chong Wei would say, “Yea, pressure is normal.” The legend had internalised expectations to the extent it ran in his bloodstream. It’s what the Malaysians will eternally be grateful to him for. Lee Chong Wei is worth straining the vocal chords for.