Thank you, Lee Chong Wei!

Lee Chong Wei; a name that no Malaysians will not know and a name that has made a huge impact to the badminton world for over 19 years. A three-time Olympic silver medalist, Datuk Lee Chong Wei is truly a badminton legend and an inspiring Malaysian hero!

After diagnosed with nose cancer since last year, he has no choice but to stop his badminton career to focus on the cancer treatment at Taiwan ever since. The news shocked the whole Malaysia and we pray nothing but the best of health for this man. After confirmation of his recovery, he returned to the court but has been advised of not to undergo anymore intense training to avoid the relapse of cancer. Today, he decided to retire officially and we wish him all the best!

His achievement is nothing short of breathtaking. Although he has failed in three past attempts to win Malaysia’s first ever Olympic gold medal, but he never gives up. Winning 3 Olympic silver medals in a row, he is the most successful Olympian in Malaysian history. Although always losing in several crucial final matches (I always find that luck is always not on his side), but he is the one that unite all Malaysians through sport. People of all races gather together at mamak stall in the evening to catch his action live on huge television. Crowd cheering when he win points or hearing your neighbours scream when he won are some of the memories I had in the past (I’m sure you experienced those time too). Only Lee Chong Wei has the ability to do that.

He do wish to compete in next year’s Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games (will be his fourth attempt) but health shall comes first nevertheless. It’s okay, Chong Wei! You have tried your best and you have already made Malaysians proud! You have done enough and it’s best for you now to spend more quality time with your family and friends.

His achievement is not just limited to the Olympics. He has won a total of 69 badminton titles including a record-breaking 12 wins at the Malaysian Open. He is also a three-time Commonwealth Games gold medalist, and a four-time All England champion. He is also the king of BWF (Badminton World Federation) World Superseries with 47 titles. He held on to the position as world no.1 men single player for 6 years consecutively (from 2008 to 2013). Impressive, isn’t it? His career is so amazing that it has even been turned into an autobiography (book titled ‘Dare to be a Champion’) and a 2018 movie with his name as the movie’s title.

Thank you, Datuk Lee Chong Wei for all the contribution, inspiration and great memories you have given to us. Your superb plays on the badminton court in the past will be missed! It’s time now for the youngsters to step up the game to be back at the world stage in badminton.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

 

Cityville celebrates its 2nd anniversary, and unbelievably, I’m still on this game.

Zynga’s Cityville is first launched in early December 2010 as far as I knew. Then, the game received immediate widespread popularity to the point that it is like 7 out of 10 Facebook friends of mine played it. And so then, I am introduced to this game ever since…and until now, surprisingly, I’m still not giving up on this game. Not long after the game’s launch, it get its fame, but similarly to other once popular games in Facebook, its popularity is declining after a short while with reducing number of daily players. Nevertheless, Cityville is still a big hit in Facebook for once a time.

(Image source: http://cityvillefb.static.zgncdn.com/static/assets/announcements/announce_fireworks_boat.jpg)

A time ago, there are few quite addictive Facebook games that get us attracted. Many of you would still remember ‘Restaurant City’, ‘Mob Wars’, ‘Pet Society’ like me, but I’m sure not many of us would returns to these games we had once attached to. I knew I myself would drop a game like few months after playing it. Okay, I would give usually the longest a year for a game. But this Cityville game broke my tradition. Couldn’t believe I’m still playing it up until now, and I have to say that I’m a daily player to this game. Everyday after work, no matter how tiring I am, I would go online and then play this game for a while. It has become somehow part of my daily routine.

Of course for that continuous effort on this game, my city in this game is indeed very huge compared to most of my friends’ cities. I am now in level 110 (that’s no doubt a very high level) and going well to reach level 111 soon before the end of the year, topping most of my other Zynga friends’ cities as well. Playing a game that enables me to run a city like this is kind off my interest and that certainly gets me going without a full stop. Yes, sometimes I find myself getting bored of this game already, but then there is this little passion in my heart that drives me to get back to this game as frequent as in daily manner.

Well, there is actually nothing much time-consuming stuff I can do from logging on to this game recently. I am trying hard to keep my city growing by increasing population and population limit. The hardest thing to do would be to expand my city. And then, there are a lot of goals that I find too hard to achieve. So, I get back to this game mostly just to use up all my available energy to gain more XPs and that’s it. That is quite boring and I should have drop the game, but then, as I said earlier, I still didn’t leave Cityville. By the way, happy 2nd anniversary to the games which also marks a full two years of me on this game. Unexpected.

Wedding of the year: Lee Chong Wei with Wong Mew Choo on 9th and 10th November 2012

Lee Chong Wei, the world number one men single badminton player and national icon was finally tying the knot with his girlfriend, Wong Mew Choo early this month. A big congratulation to both of them! Lee Chong Wei first announced few months earlier that he had planned to marry soon probably by next year. However, the wedding is brought earlier as one of Wong Mew Choo’s relatives had passed away recently and she had to marry within 100 days or wait three more years. Not to waste anymore time while not breaking the Chinese tradition, both of them then decided to tie the knot in November.

 

(Image source: http://www.alifebe.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Dato-Lee-Chong-Wei4.jpg)

They first met in 2001 when they were not popular and only perform as the back up national badminton team. Then, Lee Chong Wei rise to occasion after winning multiple titles and then ranked world number one player. Mew Choo on the other hand, manage to perform quite well too, particularly winning the China Open in a year. Then, she retired from badminton, but still remains by the side of Lee Chong Wei, giving him support no matter where he is competing at. Both of them had gone through a long 11 years in ups and downs, with even report of them breaking up in 2009. But fate reunited them together, and the bond between them grew stronger ever since then.

Lee Chong Wei reached 30 years of age and it’s certainly time for him to start his own family after enjoying many years of success in badminton. However, he will not stop on his career, but would continue on his pursuit for more titles, particularly eyeing on World Championships, Asian Games, and Olympic Games that he had never won before. It is reported that he will be back on court on upcoming Hong Kong Open and Macau Open in the end of this month. Hence, he mentioned that he would spend his honeymoon with his newly wed wife later.

The wedding of the year, is held in two days on November 9th and 10th, 2012. The wedding is of course organized in a very grand and spectacular scale as Chong Wei is the national icon and the two-days events would also be broadcast live to all Malaysians who are excited to watch a bit of their wedding despite not included in guest list. The first day of wedding dinner at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre saw the presence of the King and Queen, the Prime Minister and his deputy, as well as many other officials, ministers and corporates. Wow…so you see how high profile Chong Wei is. Today’s dinner which is at the same venue, would then be dedicated to the family members, relatives and close friends.

 

(Image source: http://www.miricitysharing.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Lee-Chong-Wei-Wedding-Photo-set-1.jpg)

Earlier, both of them have taken lovely wedding images at Sepang Gold Coast Golden Palm Tree Resort. And this is my first time seeing pictures of Chong Wei in formal attire and he certainly looks good on it. On the other hand, Mew Choo looks impressive with her gown on and the picturesque background certainly enhances the images. Anyway, congratulation again to Lee Chong Wei and Wong Mew Choo on their marriage. Their wedding is no doubt the nation’s wedding of the year.

Sadly, Lee Chong Wei is no longer world no.1

Unfortunately, according to the latest world ranking in men single category in badminton sport, our famous shuttler, Lee Chong Wei is no longer at the very top rank. His biggest rival in the sport, Lin Dan from China now jumped to the first spot, being taken by Chong Wei from Malaysia for about four years (since 2008). Formerly famous for being known as the world number one men single badminton player, Lee Chong Wei had to accept the fact now that he is no longer attached to that very prestigious title.

The main reason for him to lose the 1st ranking is because of his absence in many international tournaments recently. He is now in recovering stage from the past injury and to be on final training stage in preparation for the London 2012 Olympic Games, and so no other things are allowed to interrupt the plan including skipping few badminton tournaments. Lin Dan then had the opportunity to reach the top. Lin Dan must be very happy about it and he could take it as the boost to defend his Olympic title.

Somehow, eventhough this news is a bit disappointing and frustrating to us, the Malaysians and to him as well, but we can see that on positive light. Being ranked second in the world isn’t bad either, and dropping a rank below isn’t any big deal anyway. Furthermore, that drop in rank would somehow reduce a bit of pressure on Chong Wei to his future competition as he is no longer bearing the stress of having to win supposingly due to his position in the rank officially made by the Badminton World Federation (BWF).

For me, eventhough Lee Chong Wei had held the world number one title for so many years, I still thought that Lin Dan performance is better and much more impressive than Chong Wei. Both are definitely great players, but Lin Dan definitely outshines the rest including Chong Wei. So, the current ranking actually reflects the ‘true’ position of them in the sport. For Chong Wei, don’t give up, and don’t get pressurized by all these. Just do whatever you can, on the future competitions. Good luck and all the best to you on this upcoming London 2012 Summer Olympic Games.

Now, I believe Chong Wei is in the end of recovery stage from the previous injury he had two months ago. Intensive training must be ahead for him in preparation to his main goal to win Malaysia’s first ever gold medal in Olympics. Hope he is doing very well. Losing the world number one title at this moment is not very important anymore. The focus is now on the London 2012 which is going to be held next month until August. Show Lin Dan and other players a good fight on the court soon.