LEE YONG DAE CONFIDENT OF RETURN TO THE TOP
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17, 2019
TEXT BY DEV SUKUMAR | BADMINTONPHOTO
李龙大自信能够重回顶尖
Lee Yong Dae announced his retirement in 2016 – only to come back after nearl
y two years.
李龙大于2016年宣布退休，不过仅仅两年后又回来了。
Lee Yong Dae has had a quiet season so far by his phenomenal standards.
以他过往的非凡成就而言，本球季他悄然无声。
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年宣布退休之后中断了两年，李龙大与金基正搭档回到国际赛场，而且在第一个赛
事造成巨大冲击，赢得西班牙大师赛冠军。
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.
接下来他们在韩国500赛进入八强，打败第三种子嘉村/园田，然后夺得澳门赛冠军。进入
两次八强之后，他们似乎将重返菁英阶层。
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.
但他们的进程在今年延缓了。他们在前三场赛事中早早出局，作为弥补的是在瑞士公开赛
进入四强。不过上礼拜的新加坡公开赛，他们又在第二轮出局了。
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?
作为一个曾长期在国家中心进行常规训练的独立球员，每日要维持高水准的训练内容是不
是很难？
“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，我一直努力保持职业生涯中所采用的训练体系。”李龙大在新加坡公开赛
签名会前说道。尽管过去几年他离开了各大锦标赛的关注，但他在球迷之间仍广受欢迎。
“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，因为我私人的一些问题，我无法付出太多时间进行训练。所以我尝试用过去十年
曾使用的训练系统维持下去。”
“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.”
“说到跟搭档一起训练，因为我们两个分属不同俱乐部，所以会有点困难，即便我们都身
处韩国。我觉得这是有点不幸的事情。”
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.
鼓舞李龙大的是跟他同代的球员（甚至更老的）—像是林丹、亨德拉‧赛提阿万，最近几
周他们夺得顶级赛的冠军。虽然他们几位近期的成就激励了李龙大，不过李也坦承目前还
有很多艰辛的工作。
“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.”
“当然，他们可能最近在第一轮或第二轮就输了，但只要一旦你赢得重要头衔，那赢球的
信心就会不断高涨。所以我认为第一场胜利是最重要的，赢下来之后才能够试着持续保持
这个水准。我目前正在朝这个方向努力。”
“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时期就十分杰出。他们有自己累积的经验。以这点而言，他们最近
做得非常好。我也可以从他们的表现中学习一点东西，以类似的思维向前夺得重要的冠军
。”
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?
他去年与年轻搭档金基正的回归，表明他们仍有能力与年轻对手缠斗。对他而言，想重回
世界前十需要些什么呢？
“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.”
“首先就是要增进我在球场上的耐力。其次是增进我在比赛中的洞察力，我认为我应该尽
可能地多参加比赛。”
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?
自李龙大2016年退休的数个月后，国际羽坛冒出了一些年轻组合。最著名的就是印尼的苏
卡穆约/吉迪翁、日本的嘉村/园田、中国的李俊慧/刘雨辰。面对这些年轻又凶猛的竞争
者，李龙大能够重夺他顶尖的位置吗？
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.
“这并不是因为我比较老，而是因为他们比较有能量。”他说道，仍自信重返世界前十是
触手可得
“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.”
“对单打选手而言，耐力是非常重要的。然而，对于男双来说，必须具备一定程度的技术
跟其他重要的能力。我也许无法在耐力方面跟年轻选手竞争，可是我有某些保持下来的技
术。这些技术与我的年龄无关。另外，我拥有许多经验。我也尝试着保持我的程度。如果
我继续与我的搭档合作，我相信我们会做得很好。”
网址：
https://bwfworldtour.bwfbadminton.com/news-single/2019/04/17/lee-yong-dae-conf
ident-of-return-to-the-top/