Highlights | Lee Chong Wei vs Boonsak Ponsana | 16th Asian Games

Highlights | Lee Chong Wei vs Boonsak Ponsana | 16th Asian Games

Source : Marshall Ryan
Edited by Badminton K

Lee Chong Wei : (born 21 October 1982) is a former Malaysian badminton player. As a singles player, Lee was ranked first worldwide for 349 weeks, these including a 199-week streak from 21 August 2008 to 14 June 2012.[1][2] He is the fourth Malaysian player after Rashid Sidek, Roslin Hashim and Wong Choong Hann to achieve such a ranking (since official rankings were first kept in the 1980s), and is the only Malaysian shuttler to hold the number one ranking for more than a year.[3]

Widely considered as one of the greatest badminton players of all time,[4] Lee is a triple silver medalist at the Olympic Games, and the sixth Malaysian to win an Olympic medal.[3] He won his first silver medal in 2008, also the first time a Malaysian had reached the finals in the men's singles event. This achievement earned him the title Datuk, and led to then Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak describing him as a national hero.[5] He repeated the achievement twice more in 2012 and 2016, thus making him the most successful Malaysian Olympian in history.[6]

On 13 June 2019, Lee announced his retirement after struggling to return to full fitness following a nose cancer diagnosis.[7] He was appointed as Malaysia's chef de mission for the 2020 Summer Olympics.[8]


Boonsak Ponsana (Thai: บุญศักดิ์ พลสนะ; RTGS: Bunsak Phonsana; born 22 February 1982 in Bangkok) is a male badminton player from Thailand. His younger sister Salakjit Ponsana is also part of the Thailand badminton team. He got a Bachelor of Laws from Sri Patum.
Career :
Ponsana competed at the 2000 Summer Olympics, but was defeated in the Round of 64. At the 2004 Summer Olympics, he was defeating Chris Dednam of South Africa and Lee Hyun-il of South Korea in the first two rounds. In the quarterfinals, Ponsana defeated Ronald Susilo of Singapore 15-10, 15-1. He advanced to the semifinals, in which he lost to Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia 15-9, 15-2. Playing in the bronze medal match, he again lost to an Indonesian, this time Soni Dwi Kuncoro by a score of 15-11, 17-16 for a fourth-place finish. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, he reached the second round of the men's singles, where he lost 2 – 0 to Indonesia's Sony Dwi Kuncoro.[2]

In 2007, he won the gold medals at the Summer Universiade in the men's singles and mixed team event.[3][4] He also won some international tournament in 2004 Thailand Open, 2007 Singapore Open, and in 2008 India Open. He competed in 2009 Superseries Finals but he did not qualify for the semi-finals. He played for Thailand in 2009 SEA Games in Laos, helping to win a bronze medal for Thailand in men's team. In 2012, he repeated his successful run at the Singapore Open Super Series beating Wang Zhengming of China[5] in a thrilling two set match. Prior to his participation in the 2012 Singapore Open, injury had caused him to skip some tournaments in 2011, and his earlier 2012 results had not been especially good, although he did qualify for the Olympics again.[2] In 2013, Boonsak has changed his speciality to men's doubles and he is now teaming with Songphon Anugritayawon.