China's temperamental world No 1 badminton player Lin Dan once
again failed to control his emotions during his Korea Open Super
Series final loss to Lee Hyun-il on Sunday, but he blamed his
outburst on his compatriot Li Mao, the coach of South Korea men's
team.
China's Lin Dan (right)
argues with South Korea's Chinese coach Li Mao during the men's
singles final of the Korea Open Badminton Super Series against
South Korea's Lee Hyun-il in Seoul on Sunday.
"I was provoked by his verbal insults and I could not control
myself at that time," Lin told CCTV yesterday.
Dubbed "Super Dan" by Chinese fans, Lin is one of the most
popular players in the nation thanks to his spectacular skills, his
high-profile romance, and his straightforward personality.
The mouthwatering final, which hometown ace Lee won 4-21, 23-21,
25-23, was marred by controversial line calls and climaxed with a
heated exchange between Lin and Li that threatened to spiral out of
control.
"He was talking and shouting endlessly at my back while I was
competing," Lin said. "After the last controversial call, he was
even verbally attacking the Chinese team with dirty words. So I
chose to fight back."
The clash broke out after a shuttle from Lee seemed to have gone
out from Lin's baseline, but was called in by the line judge.
As the umpire was unsighted, the line judge's decision stood and
it proved to be the turning point as it brought match point to the
Korean, 21-20.
Lin complained to the umpire as he approached the chair. As he
neared the coaches' chairs, the video review showed, Li clearly
said some things that Lin Dan didn't like.
Lin suddenly lost his temper and raised his racket toward Li,
leading to a shouting match between Lin, Li and Zhong Bo, Lin's
coach.
Lin's emotions carried onto the court, where he lost his
composure a few minutes later as he watched Lee convert his third
match point to win 25-23.
China's Lin Dan
(left)?argues with South Korea's Chinese coach Li Mao (right
second) during the men's singles final of the Korea Open Badminton
Super Series against South Korea's Lee Hyun-il in Seoul on
Sunday.
Li, who left in 1999 to pursue an overseas coaching career after
an acrimonious split with current Chinese head coach Li Yongbo,
accused Lin of being "rude and immoral" immediately after the
clash.
"He picked up the racket and threw it toward me. It's rude and
immoral. I have never seen such an ill-cultivated player in my
coaching career," said a furious Li. "I was so angry at that time.
I pointed my finger at him and questioned him 'You want to beat me,
right?'
"During the clash, his coach Zhong also rushed forward and
pushed me. I also pushed back and everything was in a mess."
Li also said the Korean team will file a complaint with
Badminton World Federation (BWF), the sport's governing body, about
Lin's attack.
But Lin, still China's top favorite to win back Olympic men's
singles gold after failure in Athens four years ago, said the
fracas was never in danger of getting physical.
"It's a long distance between him and me. It's impossible to
throw a racket or have physical clashes," he said.
Controversial calls have led to many similar incidents in
badminton. As a result, incorporating tennis' Hawk-Eye review
system into badminton is gaining popularity among athletes and some
umpires.
But compared to tennis, badminton is still far less popular
globally in terms of the number of spectators and sponsors, meaning
BWF can't afford such a hi-tech system, which is estimated to cost
about $400,000 to employ.
A BWF six-star tournament - the highest-level badminton series -
can only offer grand prize money of $250,000.
Women struggling
Lin's shameful outburst wasn't China's only misfortune of the
day.
A few minutes before Lin's loss, women's singles hopeful Lu Lan
became the victim of former national team ace Zhou Mi, now playing
under Hong Kong's banner and recently contracted by Kuala Lumpur
Racquet Club.
The resurgent Zhou also defeated reigning Olympic champion Zhang
Ning in the quarters and has emerged as another one of China's main
opponents at the Beijing Olympics.
China also suffered a loss in mixed doubles and had only two
consolations from women's doubles and men's doubles.
The Korea Open was the second in a string of embarrassments for
China after last week's Malaysia Open, where China also only
managed to clinch two titles in women's doubles and mixed
doubles.
These successive blows sound strong warnings to China's
prospective for the Beijing Olympics, especially to the women's
tradition of dominance in singles play.
Four years ago in Athens, Zhang was crowned in the women's
singles and Lin failed to make it after a final loss to Indonesian
bitter rival Hidayat Taufik.
Aging and injury-plagued, Zhang has been slumping ever since,
now going nine months without a trophy and in danger of being
replaced by a younger shuttler right before the Beijing Games.
Meanwhile, world No 1 Xie Xingfang, also Lin's girlfriend, and
other rising teenagers like Lu and last year's world champion Zhu
Lin, are frequently criticized for their inconsistent performances
in big tournaments. No one is confident they will be able to beat
Danish woman Tine Rasmussen or Wong Mew Choo from Malaysia if they
meet in the final in Beijing.
Rasmussen won last week's Malaysia Open at the cost of Zhu in
the final and Lu in the quarterfinal.
At the Japan Open last September, Rasmussen demonstrated
Europe's growing competitiveness with wins over Chinese national
champion Jiang Yanjiao, Zhang, Lu and then Xie in the final.
Wong upset Xie in the final of last November's China Open, where
the host settled for only two out of the five titles, China's worst
showing in 14 years at the tournament.
(China Daily January 29, 2008)
