KUALA LUMPUR -- The retirement of Lee Chong Wei from the badminton court in June 2019 made front page news in Malaysia and elsewhere in Asia. The three-time Olympic silver medalist had long been the country's biggest sports star but was just one of a number of Asian players who have dominated the sport.
A racket sport in which a feathered ball known as a shuttlecock is hit over a high net, the game has a relatively low profile in the West, where it receives little media coverage and is often regarded as a casual pastime for the beach or the backyard.