PARIS Lin Dan, the charismatic athlete who has a spectacular jump smash and makes female hearts flutter, and who has been described as the best badminton player ever, may make his first full length appearance of the year at the world championships starting here on Monday.
So little has been seen of the Chinese player on the 2010 Super Series circuit, that Lin has become almost an absent genius highlighting why the Badminton World Federation is prescribing mandatory player commitments on its Premier Series and Super Series events next year.
Lin missed the first pair of Super Series of this year, in Korea and Malaysia, departed from the quarter-finals of the second two, in England and in Switzerland, and took no part in the next two, in Singapore and Indonesia, along with others in the Chinese national squad.
Yet this is the man who holds the World and Olympic men's singles titles, and whose versatile tactics can make him almost unbeatable when he is fully prepared and focused on a tournament.
Moreover a survey conducted by CNN Asia named him and his girl-friend Xie Xingfang, a former world champion, as among the top ten of “Asia's 30 sexiest athletes”.
For a sport badly needing personalities to promote its shop-window tour, the first six Super Series of the year have been a symptomatic disappointment which next week's world championships at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin may help to redress.
Part of the problem may be that Lin feels he has little left to aim for.
“What more do I want to prove my worth?” Lin said after beating Lee Chong Wei, the world number one from Malaysia, at the Thomas Cup finals in Kuala Lumpur in May.
The two are drawn to meet each other in the semi-finals next week, and though Lin is seeded only third, he is in many people's eyes the unofficial favourite to win the world title a fourth consecutive time.
His Kuala Lumpur success stretched his head-to-head superiority over Lee to 14-6, although the Chinese player praised his Malaysian, saying “Chong Wei is the most difficult opponent to beat. He is one tough player to overcome on court.”
Lee certainly looked a more confident player while winning the All-England Open in March at Birmingham, where Lin surprisingly drifted to defeat after having a good lead over his compatriot and friend Bao Chunlei.
But Lee's best world championships achievement so far is third place only, in 2005, and according to Malaysian national coach Misbun Sidek the top seed “feels uneasy thinking about the world championships”. Sidek claims Lee “needs to ease up a little.”
However the coach also reckoned that “Chong Wei cannot afford to take any of his matches lightly as he (Lin Dan) is the player to beat. He needs to win his early matches impressively to gain the confidence before facing Lin Dan.”
The other semi-final should, according to the seedings, be between Peter Gade, the 33-year-old former world number one from Denmark, and Chen Jin, another Chinese player, who was runner-up at last year's world championships in Hyderabad.
However there are many high quality players who could upset the calculations, notably Taufik Hidayat, the former World and Olympic champion from Indonesia, who should meet Lee Chong Wei in the quarter-finals.
China are also favourites to win the women's singles, through Wang Yihan, and the women's doubles, through Ma Jin and Wang Jiaoli, and could easily take three if not four of the world titles.
Malaysia also has the top seeds in the men's doubles, Koo Kien Keat and Boon Heong, and Indonesia is seeded to win the mixed doubles, through Nova Widianto and Lilyana Natsir, who are twice former winners of this title.
The women's singles title has contenders from an interesting mix of nationalities, with Saina Nehwal, the 20-year-old sensation from India, seeded second, and the recently married Tine Baun (formerly Rasmussen), the All-England Open champion from Denmark, seeded fourth. —AFP
