Lee Chong Wei, the best badminton player from Malaysia, has been a long-time idol of Brian’s, and this summer he was actually playing at the Yonex US Open. Since it is very rare that he comes to the US events, Brian did not want to miss this opportunity to see him play in person. As soon as the schedule was confirmed, we bought the event tickets and booked the flights to see him play in the semi-finals and finals in New York. Brian’s cousin kindly offered us her place to stay… lucky us!
The event took place at the Suffolk County Community College, in kind of a remote area in the middle of Long Island. 
A few photo ops before the game started. 
Lin Dan + Lee Chong Wei + BC 🙂
Lee Chong Wei + BC! 
^^” 
Here comes Lee Chong Wei. 
Warming up before the Men’s Single Semi-final event.
Brian is wearing the same shirt! 
A few photos of the Semi-final match, which Lee won in 2 games. 
Courtside seats! 
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Brian tried to sneak in for an autograph but was stopped by security… 
Then we realized they were holding an autograph event, and it was only scheduled for 20 minutes. 
Thank goodness Lee Chong Wei was really nice and stayed on for almost an hour to sign for everybody. 
That’s good because Brian was way in the back of the line… finally made up to the table after 45 minutes! 
Yeah! Shirt signed!! 
Thank you! 
Autograph got! 
More photo ops. 
Me + big racket! 
Final match on the next day. Lee Chong Wei vs Hans-Kristian Vittinghus from Denmark. 
Lee was the Men’s Single Champion! 
Fun experience! Now onto the next project… framing the autographed shirt! 🙂