Olympic fear for world No. 1

World No. 1 Lee Chong Wei suffered an ankle injury which puts his participation in the London Olympics in doubt.

The Malaysian (left), was leading long-time rival Peter Gade of Denmark 2-1 in the opening game when he suffered the injury. There didn’t look to be any danger when he tried to retrieve a shot at the back of the court, but he landed awkwardly.

He had to concede a walkover and wasn’t around to watch his teammates lose 3-2 in a Group C tie of the Citroen BWF Thomas and Uber Cups Finals as he was rushed to a nearby hospital.

Despite the loss, both Malaysia and Denmark have already qualified for the quarter-finals, but the Danes’ victory ensured them an easier tie in the last eighth.

Badminton Association of Malaysia’s (BAM) general manager Kenny Goh said: “It is still too early to say how bad the injury is. These things do happen in badminton and no one can predict how it will pan out.

“We are disappointed and we hope the injury will not be as bad as it looked.”

A visibly distraught Gade didn’t enjoy his victory, saying: “This is not how I wanted to win a match. I feel for Chong Wei and I hope he recovers in time for the Olympics.”

Liew Daren and Hafiz Hashim scored the points for Malaysia after beating Jan O Jorgensen and Viktor Axelsen respectively, while the other points for Denmark came via their doubles pairs – Carsten Mogensen-Mathias Boe and Jonas Rasmussen-Joachim Fischer Nielsen – who defeated scratch Malaysian pairs Tan Boon Heong-Hoon Thien How and Koo Kien Keat-Goh V Shem.

But it was not all good news for Denmark as their Uber Cup team suffered a 3-2 defeat to Japan in a Group D match.

The European champions had grabbed an expected 2-0 lead via Tine Baun and Christinna Pedersen-Kamilla Rytter Juhl, who beat Sayaka Sato and Mizuki Fujii-Reika Kakiiwa (right), in the opening two matches.

However, Ai Goto, Mami Naito-Shizuka Matsuo and Eriko Hirose then turned the match on its head by beating Line Kjaersfeldt, Marie Roepke-Line Damkjaer Kruse and Lene Clausen to give the Asian team the victory.

South Korea defeated Germany in both the Thomas and Uber Cups, with the men edging their opponents 3-2 while the women scored a comprehensive 5-0 victory.