Bao Chunlai. Photos: CFP

Chinese left-hander Bao Chunlai, 28, announced his retirement from the international badminton ring, according to the Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Wednesday.

The world badminton governing body said on its official website that BWF had received his official retirement notice on September 20, 2011. "The lanky left-hander from China has announced his retirement from the international badminton scene at 28 years of age."

"Known for his graceful court coverage, Bao cited recurring knee injuries as the reason for his retirement."

Bao confirmed the retirement, saying that the injury had affected him for a long time, almost several years, and that he had no alternative but to make the decision.

"It is a hard choice for me to make this decision,"said Bao. "The injury has troubled me for a long time. I feel tired and pained to follow through a whole match. I have no choice.”

The 28-year-old said that he submitted his retirement application to the Chinese team before last week's China Badminton Masters and the team had ratified his application.

"I sent the retirement application to BWF a few days ago, maybe they just received it, then they announced it on their website,"said Bao.

Bao suffered a downturn in recent years due to continual knee injury. He missed out on competing at the 2011 world championships in August, in which China made a clean-sweep of all five gold medals.

Olympic Games out

China head coach Li Yongbo said after the worlds that the Chinese line-up for the London Olympic Games will be from the shutters participating at the worlds, meaning Bao lost the opportunity to go to London next year.

Bao Chuanlai (left), Lin Dan and Chen Hong (right) at the award ceremony of the  badminton men's singles at the Tenth National Games in 2005. Lin won the title, Bao was the runner-up.

"I'm still training in the national team,"said Bao, while his teammates were in Tokyo for the Japan Superseries.

Talking about whether he would represent his hometown Hunan Province to compete in the National Games in 2013, Bao said that it depended on the negotiations with the Hunan team.

Bao has been an especially valuable member of China's world champion Thomas Cup (men's international) teams of 2004, 2006 and 2008. He has won medals in three of the four world championships he has played in, earning a bronze in the 2003 and 2007 editions, and a silver in the 2006 Championships in Madrid.

His performances in the Olympic Games have been somewhat disappointing. He was beaten in the round of 16 at the 2004 Athens Games and in the quarterfinals of the Beijing Games.

It was a pity for the 28-year-old badminton player that he had never won a single title for world-class tournaments during his career. He was always regarded as "Lin Dan second"and was compared with "Super Dan"by the public all the time when they have competitions.

Fan support

Hearing of his retirement, his fans left lots of messages on his microblog on Wednesday night, encouraging him to insist on his sportsmanship.

"Thank you for all my friends, families and fans who encouraged me, I harvested happiness and experiences from my career. I cherished them so much.

Whatever I will have to face in the future, I will continue to work hard to achieve my ideal life,"Bao Chunlai post on his microblog on September 11, several days before he announced his retirement.

"We have worked to persuade him to stay in the team, but he had already decided to leave. In terms of his future, he will relax for a time and he is still considering to further his studies,"Li Weiguo, the team manager for Chinese national badminton team, said on Wednesday.

Bao Chunlai
Nationality: Chinese
Date of Birth: Febuary 17, 1983
Origin: Hunan Province
Height: 190cm
Weight: 78kg
Career highlights
Sports: Badminton
Specialty: Left-handed
Achievements and titles
Badminton World Championships (single):
2003 bronze medalist, 2005 final eight, 2006 runner-up, 2007 bronze medalist, 2010 final 16
Olympic Games (single):
2004 final 16, 2008 final eight
Thomas Cup (world champions):
Members of 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010