About the Player, Lee Chong Wei

         Lee Chong Wei

Achievements

Born on October 21st 1982, Lee Chong Wei is a Malaysian Chinese professional player. He had a record of being ranked first worldwide for 199 consecutive weeks from 21 August 2008- 14 June 2012. He is the third Malaysian Player to achieve such ranking and is the only Malaysian to hold the number one ranking for more than a year.

He is a silver medalist in both the 2008 and 2012 Olympic games, making him the sixth Malaysian to win an Olympic medal and the first Malaysian to reach the finals in the men's singles event. It ended Malaysia's Olympic medal drought since 1996 Games. This achievement earned him the title Datuk and a description by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak as a national hero. He repeated the achievement four years later in London, thus making him the most successful Malaysian Olympian in history.

Personal Story 

When he was young, Lee Chong Wei favoured basketball, however his mother forbade him from the game due to the searing heat of the outdoor basketball court. So he began to learn badminton at the age of 11, when his father, who liked to play badminton, brought him to the badminton hall. Attracting the attention of a local coach, the coach seek the father's consent to take Lee Chong Wei as his student. Soon, he was drafted into the national squad when he was seventeen years old.

Lee received RM300,000 on 21 August 2008, as a reward for his silver medal effort in the 2008 Olympic Games. Also, he received RM3,000 a month as a lifetime pension beginning in August 2008. For the same achievement, he was granted with a Darjah Setia Pangkuan Negeri (DSPN), which carried the title Datuk by Governor of Penang, Tun Abdul Rahman Abbas on 30 August 2008.

He was appointed as UNICEF Malaysia's National Ambassador in February 2009.

On 6 June 2009, Lee received the Darjah Bakti (DB) award, from Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin, , for his achievements in the 2008 Olympics. He was in a relationship with Wong Mew Choo, his teammate. In 2009, Lee and Wong announced they are no longer together during the 2009 World Championships in Hyderabad, India. However, Lee announced his reconciliation with Mew Choo after winning a silver medal in 2012 Summer Olympics. They were married on 9 November 2012, and had their first child, named Kingston in August 2013.

On 16 March 2011, Lee received Permodalan Nasional Berhad shares worth MYR100,000 from Najib Tun razak soon after his triumph in the All England Open. He was appointed as KDU University College ambassador on 31 July 2011.