WHILE the rest of the Beijing Olympics-bound shuttlers are training at Juara Stadium, Wong Choong Hann (right) has gone into isolation.

The veteran is training at the National Sports Complex Gymnasium in Bukit Jalil and it has all to do with his aim to win what is an unlikely medal in Beijing.

The odd are heavily stacked against Choong Hann, who will compete in his third and final Olympics next month, and sparring with World No 2 Lee Chong Wei, Hafiz Hashim and the back-up shuttlers may well help his cause but the 31-year-old Choong Han has his own reasons for training separately under Wong Tat Meng.

"I'm not shying away from the others nor am I training just for the sake of competing in a third Olympics.

The odds are definitely against me but no one can stop me from giving my best for a final shot at winning a medal in Beijing," said Choong Hann.
"The current system suits me for specific reasons. At my age, there isn't much that I can polish in terms of skills but I'm working more on improving fitness and endurance.

"Chong Wei's training is not similar and I don't want to disrupt his preparation.

"I must also take into account that he (Chong Wei) has a good chance in Beijing thus his programme should go on smoothly.

"We will be training together once centralised training begins on July 21 but until then, I think this programme suits me fine."

The last time Choong Hann trained with the rest of the national singles players was during the Thomas Cup centralised training in May but he denied there is rift between him and the others.

Choong Hann is currently being assisted in training by former national players James Chua and K. Yogendran while Yeoh Kay Bin is also expected to join him next week.

Choong Hann was beaten by Xia Xuanze of China in the quarter-finals of the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

In Athens four years later, Taufik Hidayat stopped the Malaysian in the second round. The Indonesian went on to capture the gold medal.