Dubai calling: gold medal factory’s new recruit revealed on Instagram, and it’s a Hongkonger

Lee Cheuk-yiu becomes the latest member of an exclusive club as he is invited to join Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen’s camp

Recent invitees to train with the Dane have won the Thomas Cup and the world title soon afterwards

2-MIN READ2-MIN

Dubai is the destination for badminton stars invited to train with world No 1 Viktor Axelsen. Photo: AFP

Published: 9:30am, 25 May 2022

There is a new arrival at the dream camp in Dubai run by world No 1 Viktor Axelsen, and it could be good news for Hong Kong.

The city’s No 2 shuttler Lee Cheuk-yiu has accepted an invitation to join the Danish player’s training group, hoping to follow in the footsteps of the successful players who have spent time there.

World No 17 Lee was delighted to get the nod from Axelsen, a gold medallist at the Tokyo Olympics, and arrived in Dubai on Sunday, with Axelsen posting about his arrival on Instagram on Tuesday.

Axelsen, who speaks fluent Mandarin, wrote in his post in Chinese: “Help each other and make progress together! Come on!”

“I’m glad I can join the camp during this time because I have six big tournaments coming up,” Lee said. “It is good for me to test my improvement in those tournaments.”

The 25-year-old will stay at the Dubai camp for two weeks before flying to Indonesia to begin a series of tournaments in Southeast Asia.