Mind boggling 'second-best'?

Feeling really bad this morning...barely 2 hours of sleep! Perhaps, thinking too much about Lee Chong Wei's another failed attempt to win the World title. Or maybe the 'bangun sahur' blues? Not really. Blame it on Chong Wei, or wait...maybe I'm the one who should be blamed! My head kept going back and forth to explore my inner beliefs that Chong Wei is Malaysia's best ever singles badminton player. Better than legends of the 50's and 60's like the great Wong Peng Soon, Eddy Choong, Teh Kew San, Tan Aik Huang, Rashid Sidek, etc? Yes Chong Wei is the best. But he has never won "the real big title" as Malaysian press guys would question. Which big one? World championships, Olympics, All England, Asian Games or even the Malaysian/Indonesian Open? What about the world rankings...doesnt it say something? Agreed Chong Wei is still considered second fiddle in world badminton supremacy behind Lin Dan of China. But surely we all saw in the final of the World Championships at Wembley Arena yesterday how tiny and little that separates between Lin Dan and Chong Wei. 23-21 in the deciding rubber could have gone either way. So two meetings this year: LCW beat LD in straights to successfully defend his All England title; and, LD finally so relieved and somewhat lucky to his his fourth world championship title.
People always acknowledged how great Lin Dan is. But how can we deny the greatness of Chong Wei in the way he shouldered the high expectations every time he steps on court. To me, Chong Wei is without a doubt an iconic badminton champion who has taken the highs and lows, especially the sarcastic comparisons since his heavy defeat to Lin Dan in the 2008 Beijing Olympics final, in his stride. In fact, Chong Wei continues to show us that he is a great champion, playing with consistency, continually improving every little details on the analysis that he and Misbun Sidek studied since that bruising Olympics loss. Of course that 8-18 loss-win record he suffered to Lin Dan tells us that the Chinese superstar is extraordinary. But then again, Chong Wei's greatness in terms of work ethics, discipline, sacrifice and respect for the game (no pull-out mockery), should be glorified by our future generation of badminton players. Bring on Lin Dan, see you again at Wembley Arena at 2012 Olympics!