Glimpse into making of Lee Chong Wei

India's HS Prannoy showed an ageing Lin Dan the door in the second round of the ongoing World Badminton Championships in Basel, Switzerland, earlier this week. It is the same championships that the legendary Chinese dominated when he was in his prime, winning five titles and finishing runners-up on two other occasions.

The Worlds was also one of the two major tournaments – Olympic Games being the other – that Lin Dan gave another legendary shuttler from Malaysia, the now-retired Lee Chong Wei, nightmares on the court.

If Lee has some grey spots in his otherwise glittering badminton CV, it is courtesy his nemesis from China. Lee retired earlier this year with the disappointment of not having won a single World Championships or Olympics title against his name.

While Lin Dan won everything that has to be won in badminton, Lee also gave himself a good account in all the tournaments, winning every other Superseries tournament regularly except going down to Lin Dan in the World Championships finals and Olympics gold-medal rounds.

(Lee Chong Wei’s countryman and now coach, Mohd Hairi bin Matzuber)

So much so that Lee's two Olympic silver medals in 2008 and 2012, while finishing runner-up in 2011 and 2013 Worlds were because Lin Dan was at the other end of the court.

Lin Dan has dominated Lee so much so that the Chinese has a 28-12 win-loss record in all BWF tournaments.

One who has seen the 36-year-old Malaysian closely and thus can speak on what Lee was going through is his fellow countryman and shuttler-turned-coach Mohd Hairi bin Matzuber.

Hairi was trained by the same renowned coach Misbun Sidek who took Lee under his wings. Hairi's badminton career, though, was cut short by shoulder injuries that needed surgery and hence took up coaching at an early age.
Hairi says that while Lee went to the national academy of Badminton Association of Malaysia, he went to Nusa Mahsuri Badminton Club, both having Sidek as the coach.

Hairi is currently in India, having joined Dipankar Bhattacharjee's Badminton Academy in Ulwe, Navi Mumbai, as the head coach of the former Indian Olympian's ambitious 'Mission Olympic Gold – 2024' project.

Hairi, in the same age-group as Lee, recalls what made the former world No. 1 special.

"When Lee was 19, he was like a normal player," Hairi tells DNA as he settles down for his favourite snack, French fries and fresh lime water, at the DBA canteen after a long day's training session with his wards.

"When he turned 20 or 21, he went to the final of the national championships. He won, and from then, there was no looking back for him," Hairi says

Lee's turning point

The slightly-built Hairi remembers one incident that was the turning point for Lee. "A week before an All England Championships, he suffered some injury. On that particular Saturday, while every other trainee was doing track running, Lee was going so slow. When the coach asked him what was the matter, he was scared to tell him.

"Finally, Lee revealed that he had been having the leg injury since a week. When the coach asked him why he did not inform him earlier, Lee said he feared he may not be sent to All England if he revealed the injury. Coach Sidek said, 'You are not going to All England'," Hairi says.

The 36-year-old Hairi remembers how inconsolable Lee was. He says: "Lee cried, wanting to play at All England. He told the coach that from then on, he would do whatever the coach said, winning his confidence."
From then on, "Lee trained like hell," Hairi says.

"While we all gave 100 per cent in training, Lee did a little more than that. He was very disciplined, did not party. And, by the time he turned 23, he started to conquer the world," he says.

What was that extra bit that Lee did and the others didn't. Hairi says: "We don't know what extra he did. He did more running, did a lot of shadow movements. While we did this training routine of 10 corners, 90 sets every morning for about close to two hours, Lee would do much more than us. He stayed back long after we were gone and train hard. He never showed to his fellow trainees whatever extra he did. He simply smiled at us whenever we asked what he did," Hairi says.

Hairi labels Lee "really crazy, but in a good way".

He adds: "He is a very humble person. After all the Superseries titles that he has won, some tend to be arrogant. But not Lee. He is good to people. Even after returning from winning a tournament, he would do all the training that he used to do earlier."

To give an example of Lee's simplicity even in his peak, Hairi says: "The national academy has some rich people coming to train, and their cars are parked closest to the entrance. Lee would park his car at the staff parking lot, walk to the court, and in doing so, use a squash racquet to strengthen his wrists."

Obsessed in beating Lin Dan

Despite all the hard work and diligent training, it was bemusing that could Lee not beat Lin Dan when it mattered the most.

In Hairi's opinion, "Lee really wanted to beat Lin Dan. Once he lost to Lin Dan in the Malaysian Open, he did not want to lose to the Chinese ever again. He became so desperate to beat Lin Dan that he could not really focus on his points."

"It so happened that once Lee was leading 20-13. But the desperation got so much better of Lee that he began to lose points and eventually went down 20-22. The thought of 'I will lose to Lin Dan' was working on Lee's mind," he adds.

Hairi also says that Lin Dan was mentally stronger than Lee. "Lee thought too much 'I must win, I must win' and put a lot of pressure on himself. You need to focus on your game, not what is going on around like the crowd support. You need to boost yourself. When you think of other things but your game, you lose focus. That's what happened with Lee."

So, couldn't Sidek, who is currently the head coach of the men's singles players in the Malaysian national team, have worked on making Lee mentally stronger?

Hairi says: "Perhaps, that was Sidek's weakness. He didn't know how to work on the mental aspect of it."

Hairi says that Lee was given preferential treatment by Sidek, but not as a complaint. "We also understood why he got preferential treatment. There was nobody who could challenge Lee, nor can anybody reach the level that he has reached," says Hairi, proud of his highly-accomplished countryman.

'Like India vs Pakistan'

Subsequently, Lee hired an expert for every area needed – besides the coach, he had a separate coach for gym, physio, nutrition, mental conditioning, etc, says Hairi.

These may have borne fruits as Lee managed to beat Lin Dan in the 2016 Olympics semifinals and was on course to fulfilling his dream, only to lose to Chen Long in the title clash.

Lee Chong Wei versus Lin Dan is one of the all-time great rivalries in sport. Hairi sums it up as "the India vs Pakistan" in cricket.

"Lee's philosophy was he could lose to any other player but definitely not Lin Dan," Hairi says.

Besides, Hairi also mentions the way the Chinese in general, and Lin Dan in particular, prepare for big tournaments.

"It is often said that in the 2012 Olympics, Lin Dan had six coaches to monitor Lee's court movements – two at the back, two in the middle and two at the front. So, when it came to Lin Dan vs Lee final, the former had an answer to every shot that Lee played. Everyone said that Lin Dan was so fast that he already knew where Lee was going to hit and was ready for it. That way, Lin Dan was mentally sharper too," Hairi says.

Hairi says he is rarely in touch with Lee now-a-days. "It is understandable because of his stature in Malaysia. But when we bump into each other, we exchange pleasantries," says Hairi.

But one other national hero that Hairi is still close to is 2002 Commonwealth Games gold medallist and 2003 All England champion, Muhammad Hafiz Hashim.

"The difference between Hashim and Lee was that there were so many distractions after Hashim won the All England that he faded away. Whereas, Lee had many people to manage his distractions so that he focussed only on badminton," says Hairi.