Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday.
The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open.
Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan.
Photo: CNA
“I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will also think of Taiwan’s doubles being really strong,” said Lee, who secured gold for Team Taiwan in the men’s doubles at the Paris Olympics alongside partner Wang Chi-lin.
Wang was present at the ceremony, along with Lee’s other former badminton partners Chiang Yu-wei and Lee Jhe-huei.
During an exchange between the badminton stars in front of the stadium audience, Lee Yang said that Lee Jhe-huei used to leave the court first when they finished practice.
“But this time it’s me who will leave the court first,” Lee Yang said before bursting into tears again.
Lee Yang, 29, reflected on his dedication to the sport that helped him take home two Olympic golds in 2021 and this year, two Asian Games bronzes in 2018 and 2022, and an Asian Championships bronze last year with partners Wang and Lee Jhe-huei.
“I also want to thank myself for persisting for so long,” he said. “Every day I would go to bed at 11pm and get up at 7:20am. As long as there was anything that could help promote badminton, I always wanted to go and do it.”
Lee Yang said that he spent more than half of each year away from Taiwan for training and participating in competitions during his career.
Much of the rest of the time was spent at the National Sports Training Center in Kaohsiung, he said.
This has made Taiwan feel “unfamiliar” to him, he said.
“Right now, I really want to ride a bicycle all around Taiwan, that way I can thoroughly enjoy myself,” he said. “I can stop off everywhere and get to know Taiwan all over again.”
He also said that from yesterday he would take up teaching at National Taiwan Sport University.
Lee Yang, who was born in Taipei but whose household is registered in Taiwan’s outlying Kinmen County, began playing badminton in grade five of elementary school.
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