Sports minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob (centre) chats with Lee Chong Wei (left) and coach Misbun Sidek in Putrajaya yesterday. — Pic: HASAN ISMAIL.
THE pressure of being the No 1 badminton player in the world is getting to Lee Chong Wei.
This is in coach Misbun Sidek’s post-mortem report to Sports Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
Ismail Sabri had directed coaches to conduct regular post-mortems on their players’ performances after international competitions. And Chong Wei’s report was the first the sports minister received.
The report covered Chong Wei’s declining performances in the Japan and Macau Opens in September and the French Open three weeks ago.
Misbun said the main reason for Chong Wei’s defeats to Indonesian Taufik Hidayat twice, in Macau and France, and to Sony Dwi Kuncoro (Japan), also from Indonesia, was due to the pressure of being the World No 1.
“I’m glad the first report has come from Misbun on Chong Wei’s performance.
“We are obviously concerned about Chong Wei’s defeats to Taufik and Sony. Pressure of being the World No 1 and maintaining the position have been identified as the main reasons, but we have taken measures to overcome the problem.
“Taufik is more relaxed but as the No 1, Chong Wei is in a must-win situation and this probably made things difficult.
“He must be stronger mentally and approach the coming China Open (beginning Tuesday) and the Hong Kong Open (Nov 25-30) more relaxed. The opposition will be tougher there.
“As for the post-mortems, I have not set deadlines but now I think I must as the other associations (besides the BA of Malaysia) have not even submitted their Olympic reports.”
Chong Wei’s request to have a psychologist with him had been granted by the National Sports Institute (NSI) and Fred Tan travelled with him to the French Open. Tan will be available for the China and Hong Kong Opens.
Ismail Sabri said he will ensure that the psychologist is not just provided on an ad hoc basis but will be available full time to help Chong Wei.
Chong Wei, the top seed in China, is looking forward to reaching the final in China and Hong Kong where he will resume his rivalry with China’s World No 2 Lin Dan who will be playing in his first tournament since winning Olympic gold in Beijing in August.
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