It’s not the time for them to retire: Pullela Gopichand

Lin Dan, 33, of China and Lee Chong Wei, 34, of Malaysia are prodigious badminton players. According to the rumours, the duo must take the halt to their playing career as their age says to. But their budding fans are hoping them to continue playing the game till the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

Pullela Gopichand, national chief badminton coach and former All England Open badminton champion, believes that Lin Dan and Lee Chong Wei can continue playing and their continuation will only have a positive effect to the game in their respective countries. Gopichand told Business Times Singapore, "They are great ambassadors of the sport. People love to watch them. I think the champion shuttlers should stay longer so that so many of us can learn so many things from them".

"If there is insufficient of resources, it would be ideal to keep them and also invest in younger players. I do not think there is any lack of resources to that extent that they cannot fund one extra player in both China and Malaysia", he added.

Notably, after Malaysian Open finals at Stadium Perpaduan Negeri Sarawak, Petra Jaya in April, World number one Lee Chong Wei revealed that Chinese legend Lin Dan and himself are not reckoning to retire from badminton, yet.

"If we put our age together, we would be more than 70 years old but I hope that we can continue on with our careers and play more," he said.

"For now, it's not the time yet. Even before this, there have been many asking me about retirement but with every passing year I'm still motivated to continue the game. “We may be old players, but have no plans to announce our retirement yet. In fact, I am hoping that Lin Dan and I can continue playing for a few more years. As for me, I intend to play as long as I can,” he added.

When asked about his chances in the upcoming world championships, Lee Chong Wei acknowledged that there were many new young players that are catching up not only to him but also Lin Dan. He said, “There were many rising stars now and also Chinese ace Chen Long to contend with. We should not look down on young players."

Lin Dan is planning to be still active on the international stage but did not want to think too much about winning at world championships. He said, “I will take it one championship at a time.”