Career
2015
In 2015, he became the junior champion in the Perak and Selangor Badminton Open. These standout performances and wins in the international circuit earned him a place in the Badminton Association of Malaysia.[citation needed]
2016
In November 2016, Lee won a bronze medal in the World Junior Championships after losing to Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo in the semifinals. In the same month, he advanced to the final of India International Series but was defeated by Lakshya Sen.[citation needed]
2017
In February 2017, Lee reached the semifinals of the Thailand Masters, where he lost to Kantaphon Wangcharoen. In September 2017, he won his first senior title at the Polish International, against Soong Joo Ven in the final. In November 2017, Lee reached the semifinals of the Bitburger Open.[6]
2018
In October 2018, Lee reached the final of the Chinese Taipei Open by defeating the World No. 4 men's singles player, Chou Tien-chen in the semifinals. He defeated Riichi Takeshita in the final to win his first BWF World Tour title and second international title overall.[7][8] In doing so, he became the second Malaysian other than Lee Chong Wei to win a BWF top flight men's singles title since 2013.[citation needed] Lee then reached the final of the Korea Masters but lost to Son Wan-ho.[9]
2019
Lee started the 2019 season by competing in the Thailand Masters. He lost in the quarter finals to Brice Leverdez of France in straight games.[10] In the next tournaments, he also finished in the quarter finals in Malaysia Masters, Indonesia Masters, and German Open.[11] He later lost in the early stage of Swiss, Malaysia, and Singapore Open's.[12][13] He admitted that he had struggled to cope with financial difficulties, lack of progress and unfairness that affected his performance.[12]
In August, Lee finally managed to make it into the semi-finals in the Thailand Open, where he lost to Chou Tien-chen of Taiwan. This was nonetheless an improvement to his being a quarter finalist in New Zealand and Indonesia Open's.[11][14] He qualified to compete in World Championships in Basel, Switzerland, but lost to the World No. 1 men's singles player, and the eventual World Champion, Kento Momota of Japan in the quarter finals.[15] In November, he was forced to retire in the second round of the China Open, and decided to withdraw as well from the next tournament in Hong Kong, due suffering from food poisoning and fever.[16][17] Lee reached world No. 11 in the BWF World ranking on 12 November. In December, he won the men's singles gold medal at the Southeast Asian Games,[18] and also helped the national men's team win the silver medal.[19]
2020: Break Into Top 10 World Ranking
Lee opened the season by participating in Southeast Asian tours in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand Masters, with his best result being a semi-finalist in Malaysia, wherein he lost to the world number 1 Kento Momota in straight games.[20] In February, he alongside Malaysia men's team, won the silver medal at the Asia Team Championships,[21] during which time he was the national team captain[22] He won 4 out of 5 matches in the Asia Team Championships, losing in the final match against Anthony Sinisuka Ginting.[23]
Later in March, due to the outbreak of COVID-19 in Europe, the German Open was cancelled. Lee's next tournament was the All England Open, which was also be his debut at the tournament because his ranking was previously too low to qualify.[24] He won against Jonatan Christie, who had won in four previous matches.[25] He continued this win streak against Lu Guangzu and the then-Olympic champion Chen Long.[26] In the semi-finals, he lost to Viktor Axelsen. The match lasted for 73 minutes.[27] Further, Lee's performance at the All England Open raised his world ranking to no. 10 on 17 March 2020.[28]
2021: All England Open title
In March, Lee won his first Super 1000 tournament at the All England Open, defeating the defending champion Viktor Axelsen by a score of 30–29, 20–22, 21–9.[29] In July 2021, in the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, Lee took part in the men's singles and won against Artem Pochtarov with a score of 21–5 and 21–11. In the subsequent match against Brice Leverdez, he won with a score of 21–17 and 21–5. Lee was eliminated in the round of 16, where he was defeated by Chen Long with a score of 21–8, 19–21, and 5–21.[30] On 7 November 2021, Lee reached the final of Hylo Open, however Lee had to retire due to the injuries he sustained while playing against Singapore's Loh Kean Yew with a score of 21–19, 13–21, 12–17.[31]
2022: Leaving BAM and subsequent ban, Asian champion
In January 2022, there were speculation that Lee had indicated his intention to leave the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM), citing unhappiness with the association, though reasons were never disclosed.[32] He eventually officially resigned on 19 January.[33] In response, Lee was banned for two years from participating in any international tournaments that required BAM's approval as well as any Badminton World Federation (BWF)–sanctioned tournaments.[34] With the public and international players responding negatively on the ban, Lee appealed against the ban on 24 January 2022.[35] The ban was lifted after Lee and BAM met on 25 January 2022, with the terms yet to be revealed.[36]
In May, Lee won his first title of the year, the 2022 Badminton Asia Championships, defeating Indonesia's Jonatan Christie 21–17, 23–21 in straight sets.[37] Lee became the sixth Malaysian men's singles player to win the Asian Championships title. On 22 May 2022, Lee won his first BWF World Tour Super 500 title at the 2022 Thailand Open, defeating China's Li Shifeng with a rubber set score of 17–21, 21–11, 23–21 in 70 minutes.[38]
In June, Lee participated in 3 events: the Indonesia Masters, the Indonesia Open and the Malaysia Open, his home event.
At the Indonesia Masters, Lee, the 5th seed, lost to the 4th seeded Anthony Sinisuka Ginting in the quarter-finals in 3 games, 21–18, 15–21, 16–21.[39]
A week later, Lee lost to Viktor Axelsen, the World No 1 at the Indonesia Open semi-finals, with a score of 21–19, 11–21, 21–23 in 70 minutes.[40]
In late June, Lee took part in the Malaysia Open as the 5th seed. He surprisingly lost to Indonesia's Shesar Hiren Rhustavito in the Round of 16 in 3 games, 19–21, 21–19, 16–21 in an hour and six minutes.[41]
Claiming injury, he decided to skip the Commonwealth Games and focus on the upcoming World Championships which would be held in August.[42] As the fifth seed in World Championships, he lost to China's shuttler Zhao Junpeng in the third round in three games, with a match score of 19–21, 21–11, 19–21. The match lasted for an hour and five minutes.[43]
A week later, Lee lost to Kidambi Srikanth, the Former World No 1 at the Round of 32 of Japan Open, with a score of 20–22, 21-23 in 38 minutes.[44]
On October 22 2022, Lee defeated former World Champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore, with a score of 21-18, 21-15 in 40 minutes [45] and reached the Denmark Open final before losing to Shi Yuqi from China, with a score of 18-21, 21-16, 12-21 in 64 minutes. [46]
A few days later, Lee as 3rd seed in French Open, was surprised with another defeat at the Round of 32, with a score of 18-21, 19-21 to the same opponent, Shesar Hiren Rhustavito from Indonesia that defeated him back in Malaysia open earlier in June. [47]
Australia Open was Lee's last hope of securing a final spot in the World Tour Finals. However, things did not go his way as one of his hands suffered a minor injury during the third game and suffered a loss of 22-20, 15-21, 16-21 to Lu Guang Zu from China in 70 minutes. His loss ended the last hope when his opponent went on to secure the final spot in the World Tour Finals. [48]
2022 was a year of ups and down for Lee, as inconsistency was the main issue that led to his poor performance results in the second half of the year. On the bright side of it, Lee's achievement after leaving BAM has also shown his capability and determination to be a more consistent player in years to come.
1
3
