Chong Wei’s ranking drop anticipated
Chong Wei held the world number one position for three years and 11 months from August 20, 2008. — file picPETALING JAYA, June 22 — Datuk Lee Chong Wei’s drop in rankings following his failure to take part in the Indonesian Open Badminton Championship last week was expected.
Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) general manager Kenny Goh said, however, the slip in rankings would not affect Chong Wei’s seeding at the 2012 London Olympics next month.
He said Chong Wei’s slip in rankings was also due to his failure to complete a singles encounter at the Thomas Cup championship in Wuhan, China last month.
Voting for the London Olympics badminton will be based on the world ranking as of May 3, he told reporters at the launch of the Mesuma Sdn Bhd (Mesuma) premises here today.
Mesuma has been the official sponsor of sports apparel for the Malaysian contingent to the Olympic Games for six years.
According to the latest rankings of the Badminton World Federation (BWF), China’s Lin Dan pipped Chong Wei as the world number one player by collecting 93,313.4114 points while Chong Wei slipped to number two with 91,898.7300 points.
China’s Cheng Long and Chen Jin came in third and fourth after collecting 82,460.3161 and 71,292.9100 points respectively.
Chong Wei held the world number one position for three years and 11 months from August 20, 2008, four days after he lost to Lin Dan in the badminton finals at the Beijing Olympics 2008.
Before Chong Wei’s meteoric rise, Lin Dan was number one for four years from
February 2004, the longest streak at the top. — Bernama
