KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 23 — The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) does not want to put pressure on national ace Datuk Lee Chong Wei to win every tournament he contested.

BAM president Datuk Seri Mohamad Norza Zakaria said that by now, the association had realised and accepted the fact that age would be among the factors spoiling the former world number one’s chances to win a title.

"He is still the national ace, and no junior shuttlers can defeat him, so we will stick to the existing plan, that he can choose which championship he wants to participate in and that we will not put pressure on him to win it.

"We know at the age of 35, it will be harder for him to play against those in early 20s… it’s not about skills or defying fate, it is just the fact that we have to accept,” he told reporters after the presentation of the letters of appointment for BAM affiliates at the Malaysian Badminton Academy here.

Chong Wei, who turned 35 on October 21, lost 17-21, 21-11, 19-21 to HS Prannoy from India in the second round Denmark Open championship recently.

Tomorrow, the national ace will begin his campaign at the French Open championship, after bagging the title in 2007, 2011 and 2015.

Meanwhile, Mohamad Norza said he was a little disappointed with the poor level of fighting spirit and mental strength displayed by the national shuttlers at the World Junior Championship and Denmark Open recently.

He said they were clearly still ‘scared’ to show their true potential, causing inconsistency in their performance and hence failed to control the game during critical time.

Leong Jun Hao, for one, was too close to win the World Youth Championship title, but failed to end the six-year drought after losing to Kunvalut Vitidsarn from Thailand 21-17, 15-21 and 9-21 in the final, he said.

Mixed doubles pair Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie, on the other hand, were shown the exit at the semi-final of Denmark Open after losing to China’s Zheng Siwei-Chen Qingchen 16-21, 16-21.

"This is our weakness. Poor level of fighting spirit and mental strength. This has to be improved.

"We always talked about the fighting spirit of players from Thai, Indonesia and China, but we personally don’t even have it... we are not lack of talents, we just have a culture of fear,” he said.

Mohamad Norza, however, praised the overall performance of the youth squad, which he described as not much different from the other badminton powerhouses.

He said Jun Hao had also been seen as having a huge potential to shine and should be given more exposure to prepare him to join the senior squad.

"I have texted Datuk Misbun (Sidek) and told him that Hun Hao should be given more guidance and exposure. I told him I want to see Jun Hao among the top 10 players in two years.

"We don’t want to have a world-class junior champion who will stumble once they join the junior squad. It’s high time for the coaches to take notice and address this matter both for short- and long-term,” he added.

The national junior squad emerged as runner up in the team category after losing 1-3 to China in the final, while women’s singles Goh Jin Wei lost  9-21, 10-21 to Han Yue from China in the semi-final. — Bernama