# May skip SEA Games to play in World Championships
# Clash of dates leaves Malaysian ace in a limbo
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By Rizal Abdullah
With age against him Malaysia’s world No 1 Datuk Lee Chong Wei may not feature in the next Olympics by the time the next Olympics Games roll around in Tokyo in 2020.
The Olympic gold medal remained elusive for the 33-year-old Malaysian when he settled for the silver yet again in the recent Rio Olympics. His other two silver were in the Beijing (2008) and London (2012) Olympics.
Rio was hailed as the perfect place to land the elusive gold and give Malaysia their first ever Olympic gold. However a 21-18, 21-18 defeat to China’s Chen Long in the final dashed all dreams for him and Malaysia.
Chong Wei still has certain hopes and desires to win a badminton “major” before he calls it quits. With that in mind he wants to take a crack at the next World Championships – in Glosgow next year.
With the world meet clashing with the Sea Games the Malaysian has made it clear that he will give the biennial regional games the miss. The scheduled dates for the world championships are Aug 21-27 while the Sea Games are from Aug 19-31.
Chong Wei believes that Malaysia will be able to field gold medallists in the Sea Games and it is a perfect platform for Malaysia to “groom” their future stars.
