Lin Dan escapes scare against Sho Sasaki in Men’s Singles quarter-final at 2012 London Olympics
China’s greatest shuttler Lin Dan survived a dreadful scare while playing against Japan’s Sho Sasaki in Men’s Singles quarter-final as he narrowly won the battle at the 2012 London Olympics on Thursday, August 2, at Wembley Arena, in London.
The World Number One Lin, who is second seed in the tournament, had to dig into his reserves to overpower his talented Japanese opponent who played extremely well and stretched the match to rubber games.
The higher ranked Chinese mega star took the opening game easily but lost the following set with a considerable margin. However, he got elevation at the concluding points of third set and managed to beat his rival with a close score.
The World Number Seven Sasaki, on the other hand, played tremendous badminton in the whole contest and also remained close to his rival in the final set. However, he remained unlucky to prove his worth at the concluding stage and lost the match in three
sets.
When asked to Lin that how he felt on court when Sasaki narrowed the gap at 14-15 in the deciding game, the Chinese shuttler said that he was just thinking to get a few more points.
He stated, “I didn't think too much. All I could think of is to get the last few points. Results are often not what you expect anyway.”
He further added, “It didn't surprise me what happened. This is the phase of the tournament where competition really happens.”
The opening game was almost one-sided when Lin played with aggression and he did not face any considerable resistance from Sasaki in finishing it off with a 21-12 score on the board.
However, Lin could not continue his dominating run on court in the second game. He failed to stop the progress of his Japanese opponent and eventually lost the set with a margin of 16-21.
In the decider, Lin played well in the opening half but Sasaki put in extra effort and drew near at 14-15.
Nevertheless, Lin controlled his nerves in the ending points and took the set with a 21-16 score on the board.
The higher ranked Lin emerged as victorious against Sasaki in an interesting quarter-final fight with an overall score of 21-12, 16-21 and 21-16.
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