Chen Hong comes out for Asian Champs

China's Chen Hong will return to action just two months after announcing his retirement when he competes at next week's Asian Championships in Malaysia, according to local media.

China's Chen Hong celebrates his victory against Denmark's Peter Gade at the end of their match at the World Badminton Championships in Madrid September 22, 2006. [Reuters]The 27-year-old world number six is not planning to reclaim a spot in the national team, although he still harbours hopes of playing at next year's Beijing Olympics.

"I can't stay away from badminton. I love it so much," Chen told internet portal sina.com.

"I don't want to waste my talent. I'm still striving for the Olympics."

As he has left the national team, Chen will have to pay for his own training and cover the expense of participating in the tournaments he needs to play to gain Olympic qualifying points.

"Now I'm not a member of the national team, but a totally free player, an individual enterprise," he said.

Chen won back-to-back titles at the China and Denmark Opens late last year but was dropped from the national squad for December's Asian Games, a decision he attributed to his age.

China is not short of talented players with Lin Dan, Bao Chunlai and Chen Jin making up the top three in the world men's singles rankings.

Despite his marriage to Taiwan international Ku Pei-Ting, who will take part in the same event next week, Chen said he had not considered playing for Taiwan at next August's Olympics.

"How can I represent Chinese Taipei at the Olympics with the points I earned for China Badminton Association?"