Lin Dan's returns to form after impressive performance at the Hong Kong Open Super Series
After winning the 2011 World Championships in August, China’s Lin Dan was struggling hard to win any other tournament as he had to face severe injuries. However, his fighting spirit and hunger for more titles brought him back on the right track as he won
glory by bagging the Men’s Singles title at the 2011 Hong Kong Open Super Series, which ended on November 20, in Hong Kong.
World Number Two ranker shuttler, Lin, who was desperately looking for a victory to gain his momentum back, delivered a superb performance and defeated all challengers in his way towards winning the Men’s Singles title.
The ruling World Champion and Olympic Gold medallist, Lin, faced many top shuttlers including World Number One, Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia at the Hong Kong Open. He also faced upcoming shuttlers from India and Hong Kong, who are working hard to establish
their repute in the arena of elite players.
The 28-year-old Lin started his journey in the tournament by playing against India’s Parupalli Kashyap. It was a thrilling fight as the Indian displayed a superb show of top quality badminton and took the opening game of the match. However, the Chinese legend
lifted his game by increasing his speed and took the remaining two games to advance into the next round. Lin was the winner of this 67-minute contest by a 16-21, 21-17 and 21-14 margin on the score board.
Lin played better badminton in his second-round match against Hong Kong’s Wong Wing Ki. This time the Chinese was quicker as compared to his first-round battle against Kashyap. Lin played with power and speed to take the Hong Kong shuttler down in straight
games. Wing Ki failed to match the speed of the Chinese and humbly bowed to him without winning any game. Lin took 45 minutes to thrash the local shuttler with a 21-16 and 21-16 score.
The Chinese was getting better with every passing match as he faced no problem in his quarter-final fight against Korea’s Shon Wan Ho. The Korean played good badminton in the opening half but the Chinese took over and did not spare any chance for him to
dominate the game anymore. Lin won the opening game with a good margin. The second game was also close until the concluding phase when Lin, again, took over from the Korean and won it with a decent margin. The overall score of this 39-minute quarter-final
contest was 21-15 and 21-18.
In the semi-final of the event, Lin was up against top seed, Chong Wei. The huge crowd was expecting a crunchy fight as two of the most complete and successful shuttlers were facing each other. However, Lin did not let the fight pass the second set as he
finished it in straight games. Chong Wei failed to produce his killing form against the Chinese, who won the match with a comfortable margin of 21-16 and 21-14.
In the title match, ‘super Dan’ was facing his team-mate and former World Champion, Chen Jin. The higher ranked Lin played with aggression in the first set and took it easily with a huge margin. The second game was tight as both shuttlers remained close
in the whole match. Nevertheless, Lin played positive badminton with precision and won the set with a tight margin. The result of this 32-minute final contest was 21-12 and 21-19.
Lin’s victory at the Hong Kong Open came on the right time as he was desperately looking for a win before the 2012 Olympic Games, where he will be defending his title.
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