Friday 03 / May / 2024
Rio de Janerio: Twice-Olympic champion Lin Dan survived a huge scare against India's Kidambi Srikanth in the men's badminton singles in Rio on Wednesday to set up a blockbuster semifinal with Lee Chong Wei, the man he beat for the gold medal in Beijing and London.
Chinese Lin, bidding for an unprecedented third successive title, was pushed to the limit in the 68-minute battle with world number 11 Srikanth at the Riocentro before closing out the match 21-6, 11-21, 21-18.
Top seed Lee was impressive in his 21-9, 21-15 demolition of Chou Tien-chen in the opening match on Wednesday, running the seventh-ranked Taiwanese ragged with a sublime array of disguised drop-shots, lobs and smashes.
The semifinal pits two of the finest players of the modern era against each other in their Olympic swan song, with 33-year-old Malaysian Lee desperate to shake off a losing record at big tournaments to five-times world champion Lin.
India's Kidambi Srikanth played his heart out before going down fighting against two-time defending champion Lin Dan in the quarterfinals of the men's singles badminton event at the Rio Olympics here on Wednesday.
The 21-year-old from Guntur, who had beaten the five-time World Champion from China in the 2014 China Open final, suffered a loss against the World No. 3 Chinese in a nerve-wrecking match that lasted for an hour and four minutes.
Lin Dan will now take on his long-time rival and two-time Olympic silver medallist Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia in a mouth-watering semifinal clash.
The top seed beat sixth seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei 21-9, 21-15.
Srikanth thus remained the second Indian male shuttler to reach the quarterfinals after Parupalli Kashyap achieved the feat at the London Games.
A former World No. 3, Srikanth seemed nervous early on and was totally outclassed in the lop-sided opening game which lasted just 16 minutes.
Srikanth struggled with his net play early on to allow Lin Dan lead 4-1 in the first game.
The left-handed Chinese continued to dominate with his controlled stroke play as he engaged in long rallies with the Indian to lead 10-1 after winning a video referral.
With Srikanth once again hitting long, Lin Dan entered the interval at 11-1.
After the break, Srikanth tried to get a hold on his nerves and played long rally but always ended up hitting a wayward shot as Lin Dan continued to surge ahead.
In the end, it was two unforced errors that gifted the game to the Chinese.
There was a visible change in Srikanth's demeanour in the second game as he raced to a 6-3 lead.
His strokes got better as he caught the celebrated Chinese off guard a few times with his angled returns and held a six-point advantage at the interval.
Srikanth tried to engage Lin Dan in long rallies with some deep corner returns and then came up with some sublime winners to lead 15-8.
The Indian missed a video referral to allow Lin Dan a point but his forehand smash found Lin Dan napping next.
The Chinese again hit long as Srikanth led 17-9.
A cross court backhand return earned Srikanth another point and with the Chinese going long again, meant he had a 10-game point advantage.
One smash went wide but Srikanth roared back into the contest with a superb return at the forecourt.
