Actually, I don't understand why you have to reassure yourself that achievement wise, Taufik Hidayat > LCW. It s a fact when you do it the simplistic way, comparing titles. What probably intrigue you about LCW is how he is still defeating the Real champions as per your definition and upcoming champions, long after Taufik retired. LCW is actually playing better even as he s way past the standard prime years of an athlete. Do you know why? Or that, wherever he plays, LCW gets local crowd support even when he is up against the local champion heroes. His popularity over local champion heroes probably disturbs you, doesn't it? Or for that matter, the crowd roars when his name is announced as he enters the stadium, especially in China? Can you explain why?
Constantly trying to downplay LCW s badminton greatness is a backhanded compliment. China crowd behavior towards his presence conveys a perception of heroic welcome. Do you think the China fans are naive and undiscerning?
Because he's short of all the titles while his arch rival LD already completed the feat Super Grand Slam when he was 28. He'll have to convert on his way out, but biological clock is ticking. I was merely pointing out LCW yet again missed another good chance to lift the Thomas Cup as captain. LCW's also Chinese descent and he's known to answer lots of interviews in Mandarin, part of why Chinese fans feel familiar to him. We all know he's one of the best, but we also know that he doesn't hold any major titles unlike Lin Dan, Chen Long , or Taufik Hidayat. He's just like Leonardo DiCaprio without the Oscar, and this year Dicaprio got his Oscar so there might be a chance LCW could also lift his long awaited major titles this year. Let's see if LCW could prove it this time after failing all this time.
Actually, even if Lee Chong Wei wins gold medal in 2016 Summer Olympics at badminton Men's Singles Event, it will not be his biggest achievement. Only naïve people think that BWF World Championships, Summer Olympics, Sudirman Cup and Thomas Cup are the “big” tournaments or events in terms of the level of badminton matches being played. Of course, we congratulate the winners and appreciate their efforts. BWF has designated these events as “major events” or “level 1” events; but the actual reason for such designation is actually much complex and varies from one to another. All levels of BWF-sanctioned tournaments are aimed for the promotion of badminton worldwide. It’s no secret that the strength of badminton players varies greatly from one nation to another. Should the qualification for BWF World Championships and Summer Olympics be strictly based upon players’ strength; inevitably, BWF World Championships and Summer Olympics would only have the participation from much fewer countries due to the uneven strength, which makes badminton less attractive worldwide. However, by limiting the number of athletes from a region, it makes some athletes seem to be exceptionally strong due to less competition from early rounds. In other words, if you play in Superseries, you are much likely to face a strong opponent from the very beginning. In fact, the only measurement acknowledged by BWF for the player’s strength is World Ranking, which counts various levels of tournaments; Obviously, Superseries tournaments as a circuit has the greatest influence over outcome, even though BWF World Championships or Summer Olympics still count towards World Ranking. Furthermore, within a single calendar year, there are ups and downs for all athletes. Players’ consistency matters a lot. Realistically speaking, not every player will be in his best shape or form at the same time, which is another reason world ranking is based upon the performance within 52 weeks. Of course, there are some trends that cannot be seen from the world ranking. A highly-ranked player may be in decline but his world ranking will only reflect it after a few months later. In other words, World Ranking measures the past. The present strength is always unknown; but obviously the past affects the present as well as the future. Since the year of 2007, the elite tournaments or top-tier tournaments sanctioned by BWF are almost strictly referring to Superseries, which not only requires compulsory participation from top players but has the qualification that is strictly based upon merit. Of course, the Superseries Premier should represent the highest level of badminton; but due to need for world ranking points, sometimes regular Superseries is also at the level of Superseries Premier, despite offering fewer ranking points. Sources: http://system.bwf.website/documents/folder_1_81/Regulations/Superseries/Part-III---Section-10---Regulations-for-Superseries.pdf In fact, at many occasions, BWF does regard Superseries as major titles, despite being graded as “level 2”. Badmintonworld.tv certainly says so. “BadmintonWorld.TV is the official live channel of the Badminton World Federation (BWF), where we bring to you live, catch-up and delayed streaming of the major events on our calendar such as the MetLife BWF World Superseries and the BWF World Championships. On this channel we will bring the Badminton community the most current news, highlights, features and information. We upload every week and daily throughout a tournament so subscribe to ensure you don’t miss out! http://smarturl.it/BWFsubscribe BadmintonWorld.TV helps fans connect and share their love of Badminton and aims to bring the sport onto a global stage.” In fact, the word “major” is rather ambiguous. According to BWF’s regulation, “Major Tournaments are any tournament under the jurisdiction of a Member Association accepting entries from a total in the whole tournament of more than three top-ranked players from other Member Associations.” “Top-ranked” shall be defined as “contained in the first 25 places in any of the five BWF ranking lists valid three months before the tournament”. Sources: http://system.bwf.website/documents/folder_1_81/Regulations/GCR/Part%20III%20-%20Section%201A%20-%20General%20Competition%20Regulations.pdf By this definition, though, Superseries is certainly qualified as “major tournaments”. A Grand Prix Gold may not be qualified due to less likelihood to attract top players; but may qualify in some occasions. But how the strict participation rules for Superseries fulfill the goal of promoting badminton worldwide when it is clear that the development of badminton is uneven across the globe? BWF’s approach for that is holding lower tiers tournaments, such as “Future Series”, “International Challenge”, “Grand Prix”, and “Grand Prix Gold”. Due to much fewer prize money and ranking points being offered, these tournaments are less likely to attract top players; there are no obligations for top players to play in any tournament other than Superseries. These lower-tier tournaments provide opportunity for players across the globe, including junior players, to climb up the ladder. Once they earn the rights to play in Superseries by winning lower-tier tournaments, they will compete at the highest level to fight for the highest ranking as well as highest prize money. That said, Olympic Gold medal represents great honor. Another feature of being “level 1” is the fact that only ONE individual tournament (Summer Olympics or World Championships) and ONE team competition tournament (Thomas Cup/Uber Cup/Sudirman Cup) are “Level 1” within a calendar year. Players only has one opportunity to win “Level 1” tournament within a single calendar year. It’s much coveted due to the name of “Olympics” as well as the opportunity only arises once in every four years; players typically cannot play well competitively for many years.
This is everywhere on my Instagram. Danny Chrisnanta posted it too, glad that he still supporting Indonesia.
Actually LCW himself has stated Rio 2016 and WC 2017 as his personal target. These titles mean more to him than anyone else. Let see if Lin Dan and Chen Long would let it happen for him.
If diCaprio had not won an Oscar, he would still be regarded to be one of the greats. Thankfully, this is a digital era. A player's greatness is defined not just by results but also by performance, and it's all there for everyone to see till we are no longer around.
To be or not to be. No matter how good LCW is, of course if lacking all major titles, it's very natural for people to think he's still not legit or regarded still not approved yet.
You are rather self-contradictory, are you not? What are the points of being "World Champions" if they are not good? We honor them because of their achievements. As for major titles, being the winner of 42 Superseries titles (currently) speaks for itself, having reached 94 career finals. This year's Badminton Asia Championship is also graded as Superseries, despite not being a part of Superseries; LCW won it. It's a record unrivaled in today's badminton.
We never said that Malaysia or LCW himself did not want Olympic title. The reason was being explained. Malaysia never had any chance for a gold medal in any sport from Olympic except for LCW. But as LCW himself said, being able to participate in Olympic games for the fourth times is an achievement itself, it is not easy to remain at the top of his game for 16 years. He would gracefully accept whatever outcome it would be.
No, LCW did not actually care about WC 2017. His original plan was to retire after 2016 Summer Olympics. But the sport minister of Malaysia actually requested him to play in SEA Games 2017, a title LCW never won. Coincidentally, it will be held around the same time as WC 2017. LCW said that he would possibly play in SEA Games 2017 if he could still maintain his form; but that would likely be his last international tournament.
There is one mistake on this video though. LCW said that seeding was done after May. In fact, only qualification was done after May. Seeding will be based on the world ranking of July 21, 2017.
We plan to go home to KL later this year, hmmm...maybe next year too to see the Dato play his last match. Now, that I am 'officially' retired but still working and while planning my next move, I can take of anytime.
