In a statement yesterday former badminton champion Zhou Mi turned her fire on Chinese and foreign media, responding to speculation she planned to relinquish her Chinese nationality and play for Malaysia’s national team.
Zhou said the situation, which has been dubbed the “Zhou Mi Affair” (Âë®Ëúú‰∫㉪∂), spun out of control because foreign media “misled the public” and Chinese domestic media “blew the story out of proportion”. Zhou said in the statement, distributed through major Chinese web portals, that her “patriotism cannot so easily be denigrated”. She added that she has not yet made any firm decisions about her future plans. “When and if I do decide to make a return to badminton, I will speak and act carefully”, said Zhou, who retired from the Chinese national team in 2005 after suffering a knee injury. [Full Text]