Ageing 33 years old and two time Olympic badminton men’s single champion Lin Dan fought against all odds to make it to the Chinese badminton squad despite earlier denial by the Chinese authority. And this is why he is here; to defend his Olympic title, he wishes to defy age and shut all those who emphasize importance of age in badminton. All eyes were glued to the screen when Lin Dan was up against Indian medal hope Srikanth Kidambi.
First set of the quarterfinal match between experienced Lin Dan and passionate Kidambi went one sided as Lin won the game by 21-6. Lin was sure that this will break the morale of his opponent and next game will be easy; but it wasn’t. The rising star of Indian badminton made a glorious come back to win the second set with 21-11. His fightback is something that has taken him atop India’s most talented shuttlers across men & women. There is one prior occasion when Kidambi had beaten Lin Dan- in 2014 China Open.
Perhaps this was India’s best fight back in pursuit of a medal and lovely treat for those who were watching at Riocentro arena and back home on screens. In the third set of 29 minutes, the match was not going anywhere as both the players were determined to win. With 21-18 loss this was the end of Indian medal hope in men’s single but one thing for sure that Gopichand has magic in his hand to turn players like Kidambi, Saina, Kashyap and Sindhu into shining stones of badminton arena.
We are disappointed with the loss of Kidambi but not with Gopichand: our another ray of medal hope lies in women’s single match today. Lin Dan is surely the idol for many players including Kidambi and it is always great playing against him; lot to learn from his experience at badminton court. Now that Lin will be facing his arch rival from Badminton Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia, trust me this is going to be final before the finals. Last two Olympic men’s single final the two player met and it was Lin who had upper hand winning the gold medal. Let’s stick to the website for more heat from the arena.