Lin Dan, Chong Wei set for Olympic final rematch
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E-mail Shanghai Daily, August 4, 2012
Badminton has the Olympic final it wanted after a scandal-marred week with Lin Dan and Lee Chong Wei powering through their semifinals yesterday to meet for the gold medal again.
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Lin Dan (left) and Lee Chong Wei meet outside Wembley Arena for the start of the Games. |
Lin Dan ran over an off-form Lee Hyun-il of South Korea 21-12, 21-10 and No. 2-ranked Lee Chong Wei beat No. 3 Chen Long of China 21-13, 21-14, securing for Malaysia a fifth ever Olympic medal, all of them in badminton.
Malaysia's Lee won the fourth medal, a silver, in Beijing, where he was routed in the final by Lin. Korean Lee will play for bronze, four years after losing the bronze playoff in Beijing.
Also, world champion Wang Yihan overcame Saina Nehwal of India to ensure the women's singles final was an all-Chinese contest against the only woman she fears, Li Xuerei.
Wang Yihan rolled over Nehwal 21-13, 21-13 yesterday. In the second semifinal, Li edged Chinese teammate Wang Xin 22-20, 21-18.
The final between the first-time Olympians will be played today, as will the preceding bronze-medal playoff between Nehwal and Wang Xin. Nehwal could still earn India's first badminton medal, while Wang Xin will seek her first medal and an all-Chinese podium.
Wang had a distinct advantage in height and reach on Nehwal but she won't against Li, who can almost match her at eye level. Li can certainly match her on court.
Li burst into Olympic contention only this year, and suddenly turned into a gold-medal tip as she won 30 successive matches from February to June, including wins over Wang in the All England Open final, Asian championships final and Indonesia Open semifinals. Wang has topped the rankings for at least 18 months, but not played like the No. 1 this year. Still, being taller and quicker was good enough for Wang to blunt Nehwal's grit and tactical nous.
Wang used her height advantage of 13 centimeters to claim the high ground in mid-court, and put Nehwal under relentless pressure with smash after smash. Nehwal, whose confidence was high having beaten Wang Xin and Li Xuerui in her 14-match winning streak, did her best to move Wang Yihan to the corners and drop shot her, but Wang's speed didn't leave the court open for long.
The first game was effectively over after Wang won five straight points to lead 8-3, and the second was competitive for longer. The crowd was behind Nehwal but from 11-12 down Wang won 10 of the next 11 points and victory when Nehwal's cross-court smash was wide.
"Because I won the first (game) there was more pressure on the Indian side and I still had confidence so I believed I could win," Wang said.
She immediately hugged her coach, the Olympics' only two-time women's champion Zhang Ning, whom she can follow into history today.
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