Guangzhou, Aug 10: Defending world and Olympic champion Lin Dan is through to the final of the badminton world championships in Guangzhou, China after a shaky start against a fired-up underdog.
The 29-year-old Chinese superstar, widely regarded as badminton’s best ever player, took on Vietnam’s Nguyen Tien Minh, seeded seventh.
Dancing light-footed around the court, the agile Vietnamese player, 30, won applause from the partisan crowd with a cheeky over-the-shoulder return as Lin took his time to find his feet in the first game.
Lin, who is returning to badminton after almost a year on the sidelines to spend time with his family, slipped behind after misjudging Nguyen’s early returns.
Nguyen had the tournament of his life and by reaching the semi-finals has already become the first Vietnamese player ever to get a medal at the world championships.
But Lin began to take control as the first game went on, injecting pace and attacking play with jump smashes and unreachable shots down the line, taking it 21-17.
The second game saw the tenacious Vietnamese player, who has never beaten Lin, refuse to give up, giving his all in punchy rallies and forcing Lin to dive around the court.
Though his game was error-prone, Lin outpowered and outmanoeuvered Nguyen to take the second 21-15.
“I haven’t really played any world level matches over the past year and it’s unbelievable that I’ve got into the finals. I’m really happy,” Lin said after the match. (AGENCIES)
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