BWF president hopes Chong Wei achieves Tokyo 2020 dream

Badminton World Federation (BWF) president Poul-Erik Hoyer Larsen has expressed hope that Malaysian badminton ace Lee Chong Wei will make his return to the court in time for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

As the 36-year-old's chances of playing at the 2019 Malaysian Open scheduled from April 2nd to 7th remains in doubt, the one-year qualification period for Tokyo commences in the same month.

"My hope and wish for Lee Chong Wei is that he fulfills his dream.

"I know that his dream is to participate at the Tokyo 2020," said Larsen, who won gold at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics in the singles event.

It was highly anticipated that Lee would return to defend his Malaysian Open title after an eight-month absence from competitive action since being diagnosed with nose cancer, but Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) president Norza Zakaria recently said the chances were low.

The three-time Olympic silver medallist, who is currently waiting for a green light from his doctors in Taiwan, must fight his way up from his current world ranking of 41 to make the cut for Tokyo.

Only 38 places have been allocated for the men’s singles category.