Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia’s badminton legend, Lee Chong Wei, and Indonesia’s Rio Olympic mixed doubles gold medalist, Liliyana Natsir, have been named men’s and women’s shuttler of the 2010s via a poll on BWF’s official Twitter account.
The result for Men’s Shuttler of the 2010s came out on September 16, 2020, as Lee received 58.9% of the 10,984 votes in the final against Indonesia’s men’s doubles legend, Hendra Setiawan. Before reaching the final, Lee bested Chen Long of China in the round of 16, Lee Yong Dae of Korea in the quarterfinals, Mohammad Ahsan of Indonesia in the semi-finals.
However, the greatest badminton player of all-time, Lin Dan, lost the first round votes to Indonesia’s Tontowi Ahmad, but Ahmad lost to Mohammad Ahsan in the final 8.
Below were the unmatched feats for Lee Chong Wei in the last decade:
2010: Only male player to win three consecutive BWF Superseries Finals titles.
2011: First non-Indonesian to complete a hattrick of Indonesian Open titles.
2012: Completed record 199 consecutive weeks as world No.1.
2013: Fourth Superseries Finals title. No player has more.
2016: Only non-Indonesian to win six Indonesian Open titles.
2016: Became the first and only men’s singles player to make three consecutive Olympic finals.
2017: Hong Kong Open title was his 46th in the Superseries. No player has more.
2017: Completed 349 total weeks as world No.1. No player has reigned longer.
2018: 12th Malaysia Open title. No player has dominated a single event in such fashion.
Meanwhile, Liliyana Natsir was chosen Women’s Shuttler of the 2010s on September 23, 2020, after receiving 69% of the 4,269 votes in the final against current World No. 1 women’s singles player, Tai Tzu Ying.
Natsir who retired in 2019, was a four-time World Champion. She also won the Rio Olympic mixed doubles gold medal partnering Tontowi Ahmad.
Below were Natsir’s unmatched feats in the last decade:
2014: Natsir and Ahmad became the only shuttlers to win three consecutive All England titles.
2016: Only the second Indonesian woman to win Olympic gold.
2016: The first player from her country to play in two Olympic finals. She won silver at Beijing 2008.
2016: She and Ahmad became the first Indonesian mixed pair to achieve Olympic success.
2017: The most successful mixed doubles shuttler in World Championships history (four titles).
