World's No.1 Badminton Player Comes to Tea!

Today Lee Chong Wei, World No 1 in badminton came to tea.  I invited him to congratulate him on his recent victory in the Gentlemen’s Singles Champion at the All England Badminton Championship, the world’s oldest and still one of the most prestigious tournaments on the circuit.  It predates by decades the World Championships.  So it is a good title to win.

I am a former badminton player and a real fan.  So it was a great pleasure to meet Chong Wei.  His coach of many years, Misbun Sidek, himself a former All England Runner-up , also came.  And it was a marvellous opportunity for me to talk through the final at Birmingham and the qualities of Chong Wei’s exciting young Japanese opponent, whose net play and composure were remarkable.  I even got to hit a few rallies with Chong Wei in the garden of the Residence, as did a number of colleagues from the High Commission, who had come to meet their hero.

Chong Wei obviously has to be very careful with his diet, but tucked in nevertheless to cucumber sandwiches, fruit cake and curry puffs (a specialty of the house!).   He also took the time to answer questions and to sign autographs on racket covers brought along by one of the High Commission staff for his badminton-playing friends.  (We will hopefully be able to auction one of these off for charity!).  

When the time came to break up the party, I was delighted to be able to wish Chong Wei all the best for the Thomas Cup (to be played in Kuala Lumpur in May), the World Badminton Championships (to be hosted by England next year) and of course the 2012 Olympics in London, where I sincerely hope he will be Malaysia’s first ever gold medal winner!