Lee Chong Wei refused to be drawn into Taufik Hidayat’s criticism of him being inducted into the BWF Hall of Fame, but was perplexed with the Indonesian’s unsubstantiated attacks on him.
Taufik in a recent television programme bizarrely claimed that Lee was given the recognition due to the Badminton World Federation (BWF) headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.
He also played down Lee’s undisputed world number one status for 349 weeks, saying “the champion is not someone who is most consistent as number one,” prompting a heavy backlash from Malaysians on social media.
Lee was astonished by the former shuttler’s reactions, whom he holds a superior 15-8 win record against.
“I don’t understand why he is attacking me. I did not pressure BWF to induct my name into the Hall of Fame. I was not aware of it until BWF sent me a letter.
“I don’t know whether Taufik is unhappy or angry after he was not picked. He has not spoken to me about it. He should contact BWF for clarification,” Lee told The New Straits Times.
Lee and Lin Dan were induced to the BWF Hall of Fame last week in a glitzy ceremony in Kuala Lumpur.
Lin Dan, at the ceremony, said "There isn’t a precedent to our rivalry, we always battled at the top."
Lee and Taufik were not known to be on-court rivals, let alone off it as the duo along with Lin Dan and Peter Gade are part of The Legends’ Vision Yonex initiative where the foursome travel to different cities over the world to promote badminton.
In fact, in a 2021 interview with Olympics.com, Taufik even hailed Lee as “one of the legends, from Malaysia, for badminton".
Lee and Taufik are due to cross paths at the next The Legends Vision World Tour in Canada on July 9.
