Badminton: Lin Dan thrashes Choong Hann

PETALING JAYA: Veteran men's singles shuttler Wong Choong Hann's losing streak against world number one Lin Dan of China continued at the China Masters in Chengdu yesterday.

After giving a determined fight in the first game, the 30-year-old Choong Hann found the Chinese too hot to handle and went down to a 19-21, 9-21 defeat in a 32-minute final. Although Choong Hann crashed to a seventh defeat by Lin Dan, the Malaysian southpaw has put himself back on track in a bid to qualify for the Beijing Olympics next year.

After reaching his first final in a major tournament in four years, Choong Hann, who is now ranked 25th in the world, is set to break into the top 16 bracket. Choong Hann was disappointed that he could not keep up with the pace set by Lin Dan.

“He was just too good. I had a chance in the first game but I did not capitalise on it,” said Choong Hann in a telephone interview from Chengdu yesterday.

“The difficult condition (draught) in the stadium did not help me in the second game. Lin Dan played quite tight at the net and I made too many mistakes.”

Choong Hann believed that he was back in the game to challenge for a place in the Olympics after having beaten higher ranked players – Chen Hong of China, Sony Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia, Kenneth Jonassen of Denmark and Przemyslaw Wacha of Poland – en route to the final.

“Overall, I am happy with my performances here. It's a good start for me during this early stage of the Olympic qualifying period. I have to thank my coach (Wong Tat Meng) for it. It will be great to get back among the top 16,” he said.

“But it will continue to be a challenging journey for me. But the outing here has given me the confidence that I still have a shot out there.”

On his assessment of the players expected to shine at the World Championships, which will be held at the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil from Aug 13-19, based on their outing in China Masters, Choong Hann said: “Lin Dan is in very good shape.

“And both (Lee) Chong Wei and Taufik (Hidayat of Indonesia) are also in good form. They will be the top three contenders.”

National number one Chong Wei had pulled off a stunning win over Taufik – his first win in two years – in the quarter-finals on Friday. Meanwhile, China failed in their bid to make a clean sweep of the five titles on home soil.

For the first time in many years, they faltered in the women's doubles with Zhao Tingting-Yang Wei suffering a 21-12, 15-21, 16-21 defeat by Indonesians Lilyana Natsir-Vita Marissa

I will not to use the words THRASH but Dissapointing will do just fine. Choong Hann good work and great improvement!