Former world No. 1 Lee Chong Wei has announced his retirement from professional badminton after an illustrious 19-year career.
Former world No 1 calls time after winning 69 titles and 715 career wins, including silver medals at three Olympic games. “Today everyone know more or less my intention for calling this press conference. I would like to announce that I’m retiring from the sport after 19 years,” said the 36-year-old during a press conference at the Menara KBS.
Chong Wei was diagnosed with nose cancer in July last year and now retires after 19 year old career.
However, Lee said that one of his toughest moments was when he was banned from badminton for eight months after a doping violation.
He was a three-time silver medalist in Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio de Janeiro 2016. Besides missing the Olympic gold, Chong Wei will now also step down without having an elusive world title to his name. He finished runner-up in his three world championships outings in London (2011), Guangzhou (2013) and Jakarta (2015).
But no one can take away the fact that he’s one of the best men’s singles shuttler the world has ever seen as He also spent a whopping 349 weeks, including a 199-week streak from 2008-2012 as the world No. 1.
