LEE YONG DAE CONFIDENT OF RETURN TO THE TOP
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17, 2019
TEXT BY DEV SUKUMAR | BADMINTONPHOTO
李龍大自信能夠重回頂尖
Lee Yong Dae announced his retirement in 2016 – only to come back after nearl
y two years.
李龍大於2016年宣布退休，不過僅僅兩年後又回來了。
Lee Yong Dae has had a quiet season so far by his phenomenal standards.
以他過往的非凡成就而言，本球季他悄然無聲。
Following a two-year hiatus after his retirement in 2016, Lee had returned to
international badminton with Kim Gi Jung and the two had immediately made an i
mpact at their first event together, winning the Barcelona Spain Masters.
在2016年宣布退休之後中斷了兩年，李龍大與金基正搭檔回到國際賽場，而且在第一個賽
事造成巨大衝擊，贏得西班牙大師賽冠軍。
They followed up with a quarterfinal in Korea – beating the world No.3 pair T
akeshi Kamura/Keigo Sonoda – and then won the Macau Open. Two more quarterfin
als later, they seemed set to storm back into the elite ranks.
接下來他們在韓國500賽進入八強，打敗第三種子嘉村/園田，然後奪得澳門賽冠軍。進入
兩次八強之後，他們似乎將重返菁英階層。
But their progress has stalled this year. A run of early exits at their first
three tournaments was somewhat offset by a semifinal at the Swiss Open, but at
the Singapore Open last week, they once again crashed out early, in the secon
d round.
但他們的進程在今年延緩了。他們在前三場賽事中早早出局，作為彌補的是在瑞士公開賽
進入四強。不過上禮拜的新加坡公開賽，他們又在第二輪出局了。
Was it hard, as an independent player, to train at a high level every day, aft
er spending years at the national centre where there was a more set routine?
作為一個曾長期在國家中心進行常規訓練的獨立球員，每日要維持高水準的訓練內容是不
是很難？
“First of all, there’s a system of practice that I’ve adopted during my car
eer, and I’ve put in effort to keep it up,” said Lee, before an autograph se
ssion at the Singapore Open. Despite being out of the championships limelight
for the last couple of years, Lee is still hugely popular among fans.
「最重要的是，我一直努力保持職業生涯中所採用的訓練體系。」李龍大在新加坡公開賽
簽名會前說道。儘管過去幾年他離開了各大錦標賽的關注，但他在球迷之間仍廣受歡迎。
“Also, because of some personal issues, I have not been able to train much. S
o I’m trying to use the system I’ve been using for the past ten years to kee
p up.
「另外，因為我私人的一些問題，我無法付出太多時間進行訓練。所以我嘗試用過去十年
曾使用的訓練系統維持下去。」
“In terms of practicing together with my partner, because we are not in the s
ame (club) team, there’s a bit of difficulty, even when both of us are in Kor
ea. So I think that’s a bit unfortunate.”
「說到跟搭檔一起訓練，因為我們兩個分屬不同俱樂部，所以會有點困難，即便我們都身
處韓國。我覺得這是有點不幸的事情。」
What will encourage him is that players of his generation – or older – like
Lin Dan and Hendra Setiawan, have won top-tier events in recent weeks. Lee is
encouraged by their recent successes, but concedes there is a lot of hard work
ahead of him.
鼓舞李龍大的是跟他同代的球員（甚至更老的）—像是林丹、亨德拉‧賽提阿萬，最近幾
週他們奪得頂級賽的冠軍。雖然他們幾位近期的成就激勵了李龍大，不過李也坦承目前還
有很多艱辛的工作。
“Of course, in recent times they did lose in a lot of first rounds or second
rounds, but once you win a big title, there is the constant upsurge of wins. S
o I think the first win is the most important and after that win, you can try
to keep the level constant. It is quite hard to do that, so I’m still putting
in the effort needed for that.”
「當然，他們可能最近在第一輪或第二輪就輸了，但只要一旦你贏得重要頭銜，那贏球的
信心就會不斷高漲。所以我認為第一場勝利是最重要的，贏下來之後才能夠試著持續保持
這個水準。我目前正在朝這個方向努力。」
“Ahsan and Hendra have been performing well since their younger days. They ha
ve experience on their side. I think with that, they’ve done very well recent
ly. I can also learn from their performance and go ahead with the thought of s
imilarly being able to achieve big titles.”
「阿山跟亨德拉在年少時期就十分傑出。他們有自己累積的經驗。以這點而言，他們最近
做得非常好。我也可以從他們的表現中學習一點東西，以類似的思維向前奪得重要的冠軍
。」
His return last year indicated that he and younger partner Kim Gi Jung still h
ad it in them to hold off younger and hungrier opponents. What did he need to
do to get back into the top 10?
他去年與年輕搭檔金基正的回歸，表明他們仍有能力與年輕對手纏鬥。對他而言，想重回
世界前十需要些什麼呢？
“Firstly, it is most important to build up my stamina for when I’m on the co
urt. Secondly, to build up awareness of my competition, I think it is most imp
ortant for me to compete in as many tournaments as possible.”
「首先就是要增進我在球場上的耐力。其次是增進我在比賽中的洞察力，我認為我應該盡
可能地多參加比賽。」
The months since his retirement in 2016 saw the emergence of young pairs, most
prominently, Indonesia’s Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, Jap
an’s Takeshi Kamura/Keigo Sonoda and China’s Li Junhui/Liu Yuchen. Can Lee Y
ong Dae reclaim his place at the top in the face of such younger and hungrier
competition?
自李龍大2016年退休的數個月後，國際羽壇冒出了一些年輕組合。最著名的就是印尼的蘇
卡穆約/吉迪翁、日本的嘉村/園田、中國的李俊慧/劉雨辰。面對這些年輕又凶猛的競爭
者，李龍大能夠重奪他頂尖的位置嗎？
He appears unfazed.
他似乎泰然自若。
“It’s not because I’m older, but because they have better energy,” he says
, still confident that a return to the top 10 is within reach.
「這並不是因為我比較老，而是因為他們比較有能量。」他說道，仍自信重返世界前十是
觸手可得
“For singles, stamina is very important. However, for men’s doubles, there h
as to be a certain level of skill and other important abilities. I may not be
able to compete with them in stamina, but because I have certain skills, I can
keep up. My age has nothing to do with it. Also, I have a lot of experience.
I’ve been trying to keep up my level. And if I keep working with my partner,
I believe we will do well.”
「對單打選手而言，耐力是非常重要的。然而，對於男雙來說，必須具備一定程度的技術
跟其他重要的能力。我也許無法在耐力方面跟年輕選手競爭，可是我有某些保持下來的技
術。這些技術與我的年齡無關。另外，我擁有許多經驗。我也嘗試著保持我的程度。如果
我繼續與我的搭檔合作，我相信我們會做得很好。」
網址：
https://bwfworldtour.bwfbadminton.com/news-single/2019/04/17/lee-yong-dae-conf
ident-of-return-to-the-top/