NOW that the euphoria over Datuk Lee Chong Wei’s triumph at the All-England Championships has sunk in among badminton fans, and while I would like to convey my heartiest congratulations to him for this long-awaited victory, I would also like to draw attention to the “winning point” wrongly given to him.

Those of us who sat up for the live telecast were shown a couple of rep-eats of how Chong Wei was wrongly awarded the point – the shuttle from his return shot fell out! Imagine what could have happened if the linesman had called the shot correctly as OUT – by right, the set should have gone into a deuce. I am not saying Chong Wei would have lost the set, and maybe the match – he played better – but only just as Kenichi Tago was surprisingly playing brilliantly and tenaciously and an upset could easily have happened.

Alas, it was Chong Wei’s good fortune that the call went in his fav-our. Yes, Tago did show his surprise that the call went against him, but he did not protest to the umpire, nor got his coach to appeal despite this happening at such a crucial stage of a set and in the most important tournament in the Super Series.

Now, Chong Wei should be rem-inded of his earlier playing days. I remember well his loss to Lin Dan at the 2007 Hongkong Super Series, where he came home and announced he had lost due to biased officiating; and even had a word of warning for all non-China foreign players who were to participate in the Beijing Olympics that this biased officiating would happen. He is also to be remembered complaining about his previous chief coach when he lost in earlier tournaments. Wonder what he would have done if he were in Tago’s position that day at the All-England final?

Chong Wei has been ranked No. 1 for over a year (well done!), and with his well-known challengers (Lin Dan, Taufik Hidayat, Peter Gade) appearing to falter, I see him helming the position for the rest of the year, and likely in 2011, unless newcomers like Tago surprise. So in such an enviable position, he has to learn to be a good sport and good loser on days when calls are wrongly made not in his favour.

On another note – sadly, apart from Chong Wei, we are in dire need of at least one other of his stature to give us a chance of duelling for the Thomas Cup this year. Our hopes for the return of the Cup already seem a bit distant. Hope our boys prove us wrong.

Badminton Lover
Petaling Jaya

Source: The Sun – March 22, 2010