This was confirmed by BAM president Mohamad Norza Zakaria who revealed the winner of three Olympic silver medals was in good shape.

“I understand Chong Wei has met his coach Hendrawan and expressed his intention to return to the court as soon as possible, but he needs to get permission from his doctor first.

“For now, Chong Wei only performs physical exercise (workouts) and has also visited other players during training sessions. For BAM, we want to let him go through the recovery process first as advised by the doctor,” he told the media after the handing over of a bus by Bank Rakyat to BAM at Menara Bank Rakyat.

But Mohamad Norza personally believes Chong Wei will be ready to face the 2020 Olympics qualifiers scheduled to start in May.

Chong Wei fell ill after returning from the Indonesian Open and underwent health checks at two specialist hospitals in the capital.

The doctors confirmed he had early stage nose cancer and he went to Taiwan to get a second opinion and treatment.

He returned to Malaysia in October after undergoing treatment in Taiwan for nearly three months, and, in November, the 36-year-old disclosed he was free of nose cancer.