Malaysia’s badminton association (BAM) has pulled world number one Lee Chong Wei out of this month’s Taiwan Open to let him recover from a leg injury and regain full fitness ahead of this summer’s Rio Olympics.
The 33-year-old suffered the injury on the way to claiming his sixth Indonesian Open title earlier this month and later pulled out of the Australian Open.
“We pulled him out because we’re not completely sure if he’s ready to play after his injury in Australia,” BAM technical director Morten Frost said.
“He’s getting on with the training programme and that’s a good sign for us. We’re also having a nice relaxed atmosphere in our preparations for the Olympics. It certainly helps Chong Wei in his mental preparation.”
Lee, who lost the last two Olympic singles finals to China’s Lin Dan, returned to action in May last year after a backdated eight-month doping ban for testing positive for dexamethasone, an anti-inflammatory drug, at the 2014 world championships.
The Rio Olympics take place from Aug. 5-21. --REUTERS