Chinese Shutter Achieves Hat-Trick Victory in World Badminton Tilt
China’s Lin Dan created global history in badminton when he became the first player to have won the World Badminton Championships men’s singles title for the third time.
Seeded fifth in the competition held that concluded on Sunday in Hyderabad, India, Lin beat compatriot Chen Jin with a score of 21-18, 21-16 in the final. The match lasted 46 minutes.
The victory is still considered a third consecutive one for Lin since last year, the competition was not staged due to the Beijing Olympics. This means he has won the past three years (2006, 2007 and 2009).
In the women’s side, Xie Xingfang failed to emulate Lin’s feat after losing the finals match to Lu Lan 21-23, 12-21. Xie won the women’s singles title in 2005 and 2006 and was seeded fifth in the competition. The match only lasted 38 minutes.
Lin, who just turned 25, simply said that hard work and a new yonex badminton racket was the secret to his continued success in badminton. He stressed that he’s honored and happy to win for his country and for his teammates. As for the 2012 Olympics, he said that he’s not looking forward to that stage yet but would rather perform well this season.
Surprisingly, China dominated the World Championships, having won four of the five events such as men’s singles and doubles and the women’s singles and doubles events. The mixed doubles title went to Denmark’s Thomas Laybourn and Kamilla Rutter Juhl. The duo was seeded seventh and defeated defending champions Nova Widianto and Liliyana Nastir of Indonesia.
Laybourn said he’s happy to have won the title and shared that it felt amazing having achieved his goal.
Juhl said that they are now inspired to play well in future tournaments, acknowledging that Asia is simply a powerhouse in badminton. They’ll be taking part in tournaments in Europe in the coming months.
