Don't just focus on seniors or singles, juniors equally important - Chong Wei

Malaysia's dominance in badminton at international tournaments should not be in the singles alone says local ace Datuk Lee Chong Wei.

Chong Wei, the current world number four in the men's singles competition said the focus should now be on the junior players instead of players who are already at the senior level.

For example, there should be a lot of attention given to Goh Jin Wei who has won the World Junior title recently at the age of 15.

"We are aware that there is a huge gap between me and the other singles players in the country but we must not lose sight of the juniors or stop supporting them.

"Apart from upcoming players like (Chong Wei Feng and Iskandar Zulkarnain), we must also focus on junior players," he said during a 'Talkshow with badminton legends' programme at a leading hotel, here today.

"I can only assist them as much as I can before I retire by sharing my experience because they too will have coaches, just like me. Young players must be disciplined.

"I can understand that youngsters will have many activities, even at night but we need to be disciplined. If not disciplined we cannot start training as early as 6.30am. The success of any athlete depends on the individuals training and discipline," he said.

Meanwhile, the silky skills of legendary badminton players like Taufik Hidayat, Rexy Mainaky of Indonesia, Chong Wei of Malaysia and Peter Gade of Denmark at the Legends World Tour, mesmerized the 5,000 odd fans who had packed the Kuala Lumpur Badminton Stadium in Cheras.

In one of the matches played today, Chong Wei partnered former doubles player Cheah Soon Kit to beat Rexy and Gade 11-8.

Chong Wei later partnered his wife Datin Wong Mew Choo to play an exhibition match against Taufik and his partner Lee Ying Ying.

It was clear from the exhibition matches that none of the legends had lost their touch or flair for the game.

The only legend absent was Lin Dan of China.