World No 1 Lee Chong Wei threatens to quit Badminton Association of Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR - Badmonton’s world No. 1 Lee Chong Wei says he is ready to quit the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) following a high-profile spat with technical director Morten Frost, leaving the association scrambling to diffuse the feud on Thursday (Feb 9).

Lee, the three-time Olympic silver medallist, has had a strained relationship with Frost and thing came to a head after the 34-year-old slipped and fell on the slippery court at the Academy Badminton Malaysia last Saturday and tore his medial collateral ligament. It ruled him out of next month’s prestigious All England tournament.

The Malaysian superstar blamed Frost over the accident and said he was hurt by the Dane’s inconsiderate remarks which taunted him to retire.

“This injury could have been avoided,” Lee was quoted as saying in The Star newspaper. “I told my coach about the slippery condition after (teammate) Chong Yee Han fell last week.

“I wasn’t comfortable playing on it and so did the other players.”

Instead of showing concern and strive to solve the problem, Lee claimed that Morten mocked him.

“I’ve lost my patience with Morten. This injury is the last straw,” he said. “What’s even more hurtful was the way Morten handled my injury.

“Instead of asking about my condition, he asked my coach whether I would retire... why? Doesn’t he want me to play on? I’m hurt.

“Now, I’ve lost my patience and I’m angry... if there’s no solution, I’ll quit BAM.”

Frost opted to stay out of the dispute, saying: “It’s best that I don’t comment.”

The public spat has sent BAM into a frenzy, as it tries to play peacemaker between Malaysia’s national hero and its technical director.

BAM’s coaching and training chairman Norza Zakaria said: “This feud involves two very important people in BAM and it’s best to discuss together.

“Their problem involves training and coaching matters. We’ll get to the root of it,” added Norza, who is also the BAM deputy president.

“I’m confident that we have the situation under control.

Norza said he was aware relationship between Lee and Frost has been under tremendous strain for some time.

“I’ve been the unofficial mediator between the two in the past,” said Norza.

“Chong Wei has his own targets while Morten has been given a key performance index (KPI) of grooming Malaysia to become the world’s top three in badminton and to win gold at the 2020 Olympics.

“Since Morten’s role is to groom players to eventually replace Chong Wei, he has been focusing more on the others than Chong Wei, which could have sparked the misunderstanding.

“For now we’ll let Chong Wei cool down first ... let him recover and we’ll provide him with whatever assistance he needs.

“As for Morten, we’ll have a talk with him. Maybe he’s a bit strict and his way of thinking is different from us Asians.”