Lee Chong Wei tipped national junior shuttlers Lee Zii Jia, Cheam June Wei and Tan Jia Wei as his worthy replacements once he retires from the international badminton scene.
The three are currently ranked 45th, 70th and 156th respectively in the world, while Zii Jia was part of Malaysia's Thomas Cup squad that finished in the quarter-finals.
The 35-year-old said he is happy to see the young shuttlers stepping up their games and rising to the occasion.
"We need to groom these young players, encourage them to work hard to achieve their goals and I am happy to see that they have beefed up their games in the past few years," he told reporters on Thursday.
He also hoped that all the juniors would continue to move up as he is looking forward to seeing them improve their world rankings so that they can compete in more Open tournaments.
The current world no.7 also urged Malaysian shuttlers to move on from the national Thomas Cup team’s 1-3 loss to Indonesia and prepare themselves for the next big tournament.
"We must accept the Thomas Cup defeat and look forward to other tournaments to bounce back," he said.
At the Thomas Cup finals in Bangkok last week, Lee showed he had not lost his touches as he won all his matches against Russia and Denmark in Group D, and Indonesia in the quarter-finals.
However, he hinted that he might retire after the 2018 Asian Games, taking place in Indonesia from August 18 to September 2.
According to him, his next tournaments will be the Malaysian Open, the Indonesian Open, the BWF World Championships, and the Asian Games.
"I will give my best at what would be my last Asian Games prior to my retirement," he said.
Bernama
Fri Jun 01 2018
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