In his hunt for the country's and his first Olympic Games gold medal, world number one Datuk Lee Chong Wei has vowed to take on anyone who stands in his path, including his nemesis, Lin Dan from China.
The badminton event draw for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in Brazil showed Chong Wei would most likely face two times Olympic gold medal winner Lin Dan in the semi-final.
Although, Lin Dan had not shown a consistent performance throughout the year, Chong Wei would adopt a cautious approach toward the player from China.
"I am not thinking of the semifinal yet. For a start let me focus on one match at a time. If I meet Lin Dan, I will face him and compete against him.
"This is my last Olympics, so I will make sure I give it my best shot. I hope Malaysians will continue to support the effort of the national badminton squad," he told reporters after the Prime Minister met the national contingent to Rio, at the Prime Minister's Department, here today.
Commenting on the meeting with Datuk Seri Najib Razak, Chong Wei said the message delivered by the nation's top leader had boosted the spirit of the Malaysian contingent.
For the record, Chong Wei beat Lin Dan at the China Open and Asia Badminton Championship, both in China, this year.
Chong Wei, runner-up in two previous Olympics, was slotted as top seed this time, while two-time world champion, Chen Long is the second seed followed by 2008 and 2012 Olympics champion Lin Dan.
"The draw is all okay, so I must be prepared mentally and physically. What is most important is that, I should not feel that my opponents are not good and not strong for me," he said.
Meanwhile, national women's pair Vivian Hoo/Woon Khe Wei feel they were lucky to have been drawn against non-seeded pairs in Group C.
They were drawn together with Indonesian pair of Greysia Polii/Nitya Krishninda Maheswari, Heather Olver/Aluren Smith of England and Poon Lok Yan/Tse Ying from Hong Kong.
"To me the draw is quite good as we avoided stronger opponents such as Denmark and China. The seeded players are in the other groups and strong non-seeded players were not voted in Group C.
"We should take this opportunity and hope we can enter the quarter-finals. What is important is that we cannot be too confident because the environment at the Olympics is different because everybody wants to win and there is added pressure," she said.
The mixed doubles pair of Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying were drawn in Group C of the mixed doubles competition with Tontowi Ahmad/Liliana Natsir of Indonesia, Bodin Issara/Pakkawatvilailak of Thailand and Robin Middleton/Leanne Choo from Australia.
The national men's doubles pair of Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong were drawn in Group B, which is regarded a difficult group with the presence of Fu Haifeng/Zhang Nan of China, Philip Chew/Jamie Subandhi of the United States, Manu Attri/Sumeeth Reddi of India and Michael Fuchs/Johannes Schoettler of Germany.
Bernama
Wed Jul 27 2016
Chong Wei putting on the official jacket of the Malaysian contingent to Rio Olympics onto Datuk Seri Najib Razak while Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin looks on during a meet with the contingent at the Perdana Putra today. - BERNAMApic
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