Lee Chong Wei, now 37, và Lin Dan, 36, played 40 times in total, with the Chinese player convincingly winning their head-to-head 28-12
Lee Chong Wei và Lin Dan | Courtesy: Twitter
Agencies
Fifteen years ago in a packed Kuala Lumpur stadium, rising stars Lin Dan & Lee Chong Wei met in a final for the first time, setting the stage for what would become badminton"s greathử nghiệm rivalry. (More Badminton News)
Malaysia"s Lee, then 22, fell khổng lồ the floor, punched the air and blew kisses lớn the crowd after his see-sawing, 88-minute 17-15, 9-15, 15-9 victory, when he fought baông xã from behind in the first and last games.
Bạn đang xem: Taufik hidayat: badminton champ on fellow legends lin dan and lee chong wei
"Everyone saw how (Lin) played," said Lee, who was the defending champion, after his win at the Kuala Lumpur Badminton Stadium.
"He is excellent in attaông xã và his overhead smashes and foreh& crosscourt shots are dangerous. So it is very satisfying khổng lồ beat hyên ổn."
It was a fittingly tense start for a match-up that would span two Olympic finals và two world championship deciders, and drew a new generation of fans.
From the Magazine
Caste Your Vote: Why A Caste Census Could Radically Change India’s Political Map
A Tulmê say Plant, Unworn Sandals, A Mat, Brooms…Hathras Memories In A Post-Truth World
Congress Bowls A Caste Googly: A Dalit Sikh As Chief Minister Of Punjab Ahead Of State Polls
The Password Is Cheat: Tech-savvy Scamsters Take Control Of Online Entrance Exams
Out Of Tune: Indie Musicians Seek Protection From Heckling And Abuse At Gigs
But the match would remain one of the high points for Lee, who lost his four world & Olympic finals against the Chinese great và retired last year without winning either of the sport"s top two titles.
"Their rivalry happened in a period when badminton needed inspiration," K.M. Boopathy, a veteran Malaysian sports journadanh mục who watched the 2005 game, told AFPhường.
"They managed to make the sport extremely popular."
Bad boy vs nice guy
Lee, now 37, và Lin, 36, played 40 times in total, with the Chinese player convincingly winning their head-to-head 28-12. Lee had lost his first và only encounter against Lin before beating hyên ổn in the Kuala Lumpur final.
The 2008 & 2012 Olympic title matches were ahy vọng the most memorable showdowns between the men, who both enjoyed long spells as world number one.
Lin won in straight games in Beijing in 2008, but Lee came agonisingly cchiến bại lớn gold at London 2012, leading 19-18 in the deciding game before fatefully leaving a shot that dropped on the line.
Bracketing the 2012 defeat, Lee lost world title matches to Lin in 2011 và then in 2013 in southern China, when the air conditioning mysteriously failed mid-match & the Malaysian was stretchered off with cramp as he faced match point.
Fiery Lin và soft-spoken Lee are very different characters, although they were friends off the court and tóm tắt a strong mutual respect.
Known as "Super Dan", Lin had a reputation as badminton"s bad boy -- he sported multiple tattoos, unusually for a Chinese player, & strutted around the court with supreme confidence.
The two-time Olympic & five-time world champion, often regarded as the best badminton player ever, often ran inlớn controversy. In 2008, he threw a temper tantrum during a training session after which he had khổng lồ deny striking his coach.
In contrast, Lee was quiet và unassuming. But his humble demeanour belied a dazzling array of weapons on the court -- he was blessed with lightning reflexes & once held the record for the world"s fasthử nghiệm smash.
His 19-year career also had its fair giới thiệu of drama, however.
The then world number one was banned after testing positive for a proscribed anti-inflammatory at the năm trước world championships, & was sidelined for eight months until authorities eventually accepted his explanation he took it inadvertently.
"We have khổng lồ salute him"
Lee launched a comeback and defeated Lin in a thrilling semi-final at the năm 2016 Rio Olympics -- only to lớn thua trận once again in the final, this time lớn another Chinese player, Chen Long.
The sinewy star longed for a final shot at Olympic gold at the Tokyo Games, now postponed due to lớn the coronavirut, but his hopes were dashed after being diagnosed with nose cancer in 2018.
He recovered after treatment but struggled to lớn regain his khung, and announced his retirement last year at a tearful press conference.
With 705 wins and 69 titles, Lee is a national hero in Malaysia, which has produced few world-class athletes.
The pair"s final match was the quarter-finals of the prestigious All-Engl& Open in March 2018, which the Chinese won.
But Lin has not hit his former heights in recent years, & with retirement looming he looked certain lớn miss the Tokyo Olympics before they were postponed lớn next year.
Xem thêm: Sushi Biểu Tượng Của Văn Hóa Ẩm Thực Nhật Bản Sushi Là Gì? Sushi Nhật Bản
When Lee announced his retirement, Lin posted on China"s Twitter-like Weibo: "I will be alone on the (badminton) court and no one will accompany me." And only last month, Lee described his nemesis, who is still playing, as a "legend".