BADMINTON/Badminton gold medalist Lee Yang retires from professional sport

Taipei, Sept. 9 (CNA) Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang (李洋) 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 Sunday evening.

Also read: From Tokyo to Paris: Unraveling Taiwan badminton duo's Olympic journey

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 Teo Ee Yi (張御宇) from Malaysia, Tang Chun Man (鄧俊文) from Hong Kong, and Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan from Indonesia.

Lee, who secured gold for Team Taiwan in the men's doubles badminton tournament at the 2024 Paris Olympics alongside partner Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟), said "I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will also think of Taiwan's doubles being really strong."

Wang was present at the ceremony, along with Lee's other former badminton partners Chiang Yu-wei (江聿偉) and Lee Jhe-huei (李哲輝).

During an exchange between the badminton stars in front of the stadium audience, Lee Yang quipped that Lee Jhe-huei usually used to leave the court first when they finished practice.

"But this time it's me who will leave the court first," Lee Yang told Lee Jhe-huei, before bursting into tears again.

Lee, 29, reflected on his dedication to the sport that helped him take home two Olympic golds in 2021 and 2024, two Asian Games bronzes in 2018 and 2022, and an Asian Championships bronze in 2023 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 11 p.m. and get up at 7:20 a.m. As long as there was anything that could help promote badminton, I always wanted to go and do it."

Lee explained 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.

This has made Taiwan feel somewhat "unfamiliar" to him, he said.

"Right now I really want to ride a bicycle all around Taiwan, that way I can thoroughly enjoy myself," Lee said of his post-retirement plans. "I can stop off everywhere, and get to know Taiwan all over again."

Lee also said that from Monday he would take up teaching at National Taiwan Sport University.

Lee, who was born in Taipei but whose household is registered in Taiwan's outlying Kinmen County, began playing badminton in Grade 5 of primary school.