Badminton: Hong Kong Open 2008

It was somewhat like settling the score. For those who have witnessed the men's singles final in the recent Beijing Olympic shown live on TV (23 Aug 2008) where Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei was severely bashed by China's Champion, Lin Dan, that match squashed the hope of all Malaysians of acquiring a gold medal in the Olympic history of Malaysia. In that much anticipated match, we all knew that that Lin Dan was just too strong for our Malaysian champion.

What would it be like when Lin Dan meets his stronger rival one day – and being bashed up and lose the match.
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Lin Dan

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At 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, 30 November, I turned on Astro TV programme to watch Badminton: Hong Kong Open 2008. Beijing Olympics gold medalist Lin Dan of China played against compatriot Chen Jin (of China) in the men's singles final. I have not seen Chen Jin played before, I would think how much bashing he would receive from the world champion again.

As usual, Lin Dan shows his confident posture in the court. The two made an explosive start battling through a tough first few points with dangerous attacking and decisive net return/drops. I was surprised to see that Chen Jin speed was incredible, moving fast around the court with swift recovery steps and returning hard smashes from Lin Dan with accurate returns that gave Lin Dan no chance of delivering successive and killer smashes.

In the men’s singles final in Beijing Olympics, Lee Chong Wei, after receiving a hard smash from Lin Dan, the return shots were quite predictable – high above net – where Lin Dan just waited and gave the next killer smash.

Lin Dan was typically bullish after seeing off Chen Jin's early resistance with a series of heavy overheads and bewitching court craft that frequently sent his exasperated opponent sprawling on the floor. Despite the repeated assaults from Lin Dan, Chen Jin was able to play elegantly producing his full range of lightning defense amidst delivering counter dangerous attacking shots.
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Chen Jin

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The commentator was also impressed with Chen Jin’s performance that he said in admiration that, “Chen did not know how to give up!” “Great shots!”, “Brilliant stuff!”, “Wonderful!”

I think Lin Dan could not believe that he was trailing behind. At times, after losing a few points, Lin Dan looked at the lighting high above signifying that the lighting may have affected his accuracy and performance.

Chen Jin’s play was superb, point by point he advanced and eventually, Chen Jin won with 21-9.

In the second game, Lin Dan play’s was much refine and exerted pressure on Chen Jin, surging ahead with devastating overhead smashes. And this time, it was a sweet revenge by Lin Dan finishing the game with a 21-9 lead, exactly same score as the first game. Basing from the scores, both of them were of equal standings.

Third Game: Both players fought point for point until 13th point. From there on, Chen Jin advanced another five straight points to 18-13 lead. After another rounds of fight back by Lin Dan, the scored was 20-16 with Chen Jin leading. The final point for Chen Jin was sealed when Lin Dan returned a shot which was outside the baseline. With a score of 21-17, it was over for Lin Dan.
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Lee Chong Wai

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During prize presentation, the champion (Chen Jin) took home prize money of USD 18,750 whereas 1st Runner-up received USD 7,500.

It was really an exciting match with world-class performance. I got to see the World Champion being beaten by another player amidst a good fight. Nevertheless, we don’t see the way Lin Dan was been bashed up much like Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei.

Yours truly (KC) also plays badminton on every Friday evening with a group of eight players. Badminton is superb for cross-training if one is to embark on running a marathon. Both sports compliment one another: while playing badminton, the running would improve the stamina to sustain the game.

One badminton player at the adjacent court asked me this question: which is more satisfying, badminton or running? After much thinking, the answer is badminton where it involves tactical move, agility, accuracy (in placement of shots) and speed. On the other hand, running is about endurance and going places where badminton is just stationed in the court.

Click here to view photos of the badminton kaki “in action”.

Note: photos are extracted from AFP Press
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Written by KC
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