Chong Wei Would've Been A World Champion If He Trained Under Me, Says China Coach
Li Yongbo is holding nothing back.
By John Lim — 23 Aug 2016, 10:56 AM
China badminton head coach Li Yongbo said Lee Chong Wei would've been a world champion if the latter had trained under him
The retired badminton player made the remark to China-based news site sina.cn after Chen Long's win over Chong Wei in the finals last Saturday, 20 August.
Li praised Chong Wei's perseverance and performance throughout the games, including defeating long-time foe Lin Dan. After which, he commented that Chong Wei would've had a better career if he was on his team.
"Of course, if he was on my team, he may have already become world champion," Li said.
Meanwhile, Chong Wei's former coach Misbun Sidek pointed out that the national badminton training system is 'outdated' as compared to the Chinese
He said he had proposed reforms to the national badminton training system eight years ago, but they were rejected.
"I previously accepted Li's invitation to visit their training centre and was impressed by its size and modernity," Misbun was quoted as saying by China Press.
He added that for Lin Dan alone, there was a team of seven people to take care and train him
Aside from training, the dedicated team took care of his physical and mental wellbeing. They also controlled his diet.
"Malaysia lags behind in this aspect as the allocation given to coaches is not much. For Chong Wei, no specialists were assigned to help him in pointing out mistakes in his game," he was quoted as saying.