BANGI: The cynics will certainly label shuttler Lee Chong Wei as another jaguh kampung (village or home champion) if he does not achieve success in international tournaments outside the country soon. And the 22-year-old Chong Wei will be out to prove that he is not heading to get on that track with a good showing in his Olympic debut. “Usually, I am not bothered of what people say about me. But I certainly do not want to be called a jaguh kampung,†said Chong Wei. “In the Olympics, I will be aiming to give the big names a run for their money and go on to win an international title outside of the country by end of this year. “It will be a big bonus if I win a medal in Athens. Since joining the national team in 2001, Chong Wei's major successes were achieved in the Malaysian Opens. In last year's tournament in Kota Kinabalu, he made it past the early rounds of an international Open tournament for the first time in his badminton career and went on to finish as the runners-up to China's Chen Hong. This year in Kuantan, he emerged as the champion. He beat South Korean Park Sung-hwan to take the title. En route to the final, he eliminated Denmark's Peter Gade-Christensen, China's Bao Chunlai and Chen Hong. “I have been training very hard for the Games. I do not want to go there and lose easily. I will give all my opponents a tough time. Hopefully, I will come out of the Olympics as a more feared opponent for my rivals,†he added. Past Malaysian players who have been tagged jaguh kampung were Rashid Sidek and James Chua. Rashid managed to shrug off the tag with a few titles outside the country but not so for James. TheStar
