Lin Dan shrugs off Chen's threat to his crown
Master shows young upstart he's still the boss with comprehensive quarter-final win
"That goddamn guy is coming back," was how Lin Dan described his sensational victory over younger teammate Chen Long in an eye-catching world championships quarter-final clash yesterday.
Despite playing in only his second international event since capturing the London Olympic Games gold a year ago, the 30-year-old known as "Super Dan" showed he had lost none of his super touches in trouncing Chen, the world number two, in straight games 21-13, 22-10.
Chen, 24, widely regarded as Lin's successor, hit the ground with his racquet to release his frustration at the completion of the 62-minute match, knowing his chance of grabbing gold at the next Olympics now looks a lot more uncertain.
"I don't think my return will shock people, but someone must say from the bottom of their heart, 'That goddamn guy is coming back again!' " joked Lin post-match.
"We both played a good game today, but in the end there is only one champion and that's very cruel. You can't say because I won the match, Chen didn't do a good job. In fact, we both delivered.
"I first played badminton when I was five and over the past 13-year professional career, I have gained a lot on how to control the match on court. You need to be at a certain age before you can realise this."
Chen denied he had played too conservatively against Lin.
"I tried to attack more in the first game, but it didn't work very well and therefore I changed my tactics in the second by using more rallies," he said. "But again Lin is a very experienced player after going through many world championships. I am also learning to accumulate more experience in big tournaments so that I can have better control of games like Lin did."
Lin, a four-time and defending world champion, will take on Nguyen Tien Minh of Vietnam in today's semi-finals.
World number one Lee Chong Wei beat eighth seed Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia 21-6, 21-9. Lee, who has never won the world title, will meet China's Du Pengyu today.
In the women's singles, world number one and Olympic champion Li Xuerui booked a semi-final place after overcoming Tai Tzu-Ying of Taiwan 27-25, 21-13 and will meet Bae Yeon-ju of South Korea.
Meanwhile, the World Badminton Federation plans to introduce an instant review system at the end of the year to help referees make line calls.
The system will set up eight to 10 high-speed cameras on the court to capture images for the referee to make decision.
"We have tested the system in the Malaysia and Indonesia Opens this year as we want to make sure everything is right," said Darren Parks, BWF events director, in Guangzhou. "We are almost certain to start it before the end of the year.
