Battle of the former world number ones as Lee Chong Wei gets tough draw in Malaysian Open badminton comeback
- The 36-year-old Malaysian only began training last month since recovering from nose cancer
- Three-time Olympic silver medallist drawn to meet India’s Srikanth, who held the top spot last year
Lee Chong Wei’s return to elite competition from nose cancer is back in full swing, but the Malaysian superstar couldn’t have asked for a tougher assignment to show the world that he’s truly back after the draw for next month’s US$700,000 Malaysian Open was made.
The three-time Olympic silver medallist has only been training since the Lunar New Year last month after being given the all-clear from doctors to play again. Since revealing he had cancer last September, the 36-year-old has been absent from the court for eight months and it will be interesting to how fit he will be for the Malaysian Open – his home tournament that he won a record 12 times – from April 2-7.
Malaysia’s greatest shuttler will need to be at his best if he is to even survive the first round after being drawn against former world No 1 Kidambi Srikanth, India’s best-ever men’s player who reached the rankings summit in April 2018. Now ranked seventh in the world, Srikanth is the only Indian to have won back-to-back super series titles. Lee, who held the No 1 spot for 199 consecutive weeks between 2008 and 2012 has since slipped to 41. Lee and Srikanth played in the final of the Commonwealth Games final last year on the Gold Coast, which Lee easily won.
But the situation is different this time around with Lee diving straight into his first match of 2019 in Kuala Lumpur without having any prep matches under his belt.