SEPANG, June 11 — Youth and Sports Minister, Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman is urging the public to stop any speculation on the future of national badminton champion, Datuk Lee Chong Wei who was reported to be desiring to hang up his racquet before the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

He said now was not a suitable time to discuss the matter as Chong Wei himself was still keeping mum on his future after recovering from nose cancer which he had last year.

‘’We wait first for a decision from him and give him ample space to decide because he has contributed a lot to the country,” he said when asked to comment on the issue before receiving the arrival of the national para archery squad from the Netherlands at the KL International Airport (KLIA) here today.

Also present was his deputy Steven Sim Chee Keong and National Sports Council (NSC) director-general Datuk Ahmad Shapawi Ismail.

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The media prior to this reported that Chong Wei was expected to announce his retirement next week after 19 years of sowing good deeds in badminton.

In a separate development, Syed Saddiq said the ministry received many applications for the post of Sports Commissioner but would screen every application to ensure only a qualified person would fill the post.

The post fell vacant after Datuk Zaiton Othman ended her service on March 8 after holding the post from Feb 1, 2015.

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Meanwhile, he supported the decision of the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) today which achieved a consensus to set up a Crisis Management Committee to tackle any internal crisis involving national sports associations. — Bernama