Badminton ace Lee Chong Wei to put country before world No 1 ranking

Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia is ready to trade his world number one ranking to prepare for two major tournaments - next year's Asian Games and Commonwealth Games.

"I had a week of treatment before coming here and everything is fine," said Lee, after sailing through the first round of the Yonex-Sunrise Hong Kong Open yesterday, beating Kidambi Srikanth of India 21-18, 21-14.

"But I will play less on the tour next year to gain more rest as I have to prepare for the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games. I will need to avoid aggravating my ankle injury that sustained in May last year.

"I will decide with my coach what tournaments I will play and, although playing less may affect my world ranking, it is not so important as I have occupied the world number one spot for more than four years now.

"Other than just playing, there is also travel involved on the tour, which puts a lot of pressure on me, mentally and physically," he said.

The 12th and last Super Series of the year, the US$350,000 Hong Kong Open saw several withdrawals due to injuries. Defending men's singles champion Chen Long of China pulled out yesterday after suffering an elbow inflammation, while mixed doubles third seed Ma Jin also withdrew over pulled calf muscles.