Lin Dan remains lucky to win against the impressive Kai Wen in Badminton Asia Championships 2011
China’s Lin Dan remains lucky to win against the impressive young shuttler team-mate, Kai Wen, in the Men’s Singles pre-quarterfinal match in the Badminton Asia Championships 2011, at the indoor arena in Chengdu, China on April 21.
The ruling Olympic champion and top seed had to work hard for three sets of 66 minutes to beat the younger compatriot, Wen, who defeated Pakkawat Vilailak of Thailand in the second round of the event. In the quarter-final, Lin will meet the 11th
seed, Sho Sasaki of Japan, who upset the ruling world champion and fifth seed, Chen Jin of China, in the round-of-16.
The World Number two and top seed, Lin, started the game in a shaky way as he became relaxed that spared a chance for the opponent to build a good lead of 11-7 in the opening part of the first set. Wen was playing at his best against one of the most celebrated
shuttlers in the history of the game.
After the game, Lin started to execute powerful smashes but his opponent was playing a much better game. Wen extended the gap between them by playing an attacking game that pushed the Olympic champion on the back foot. The young Chinese player won the opening
set with a reasonable margin of 21-18, in 20 minutes.
Stung by the loss of the opening set, Lin made a strong come-back in the opening half of the second set. He quickly built a good lead of 9-5, which was levelled by the opponent by reaching 10-10. At the interval, Lin was leading with a little margin of 11-10.
After the one-minute break, both shuttlers remained close by playing at the same level and reached 18-18. Lin played with maximum speed in the end and won the second game with a tight difference of 21-19, in 24 minutes.
In the deciding set, the top seed remained ahead of the opponent from the start of the game. However, Wen also remained just behind his senior team-mate and reached at the crucial stage of 16-18. Lin played a positive game in the end and won the set with
a 21-16 margin, in 22 minutes. The finishing score of this superb 66-minute match was 18-21, 21-19 and 21-16.
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