About the Player, Lin Dan

Lin Dan

 

                    

Lin Dan was born on October 14, 1983. Known as one of the best players in the world also a two-time Olympic champion, fiver-time world champion, and five-time All England champion. He had completed the "Super Grand Slam" at the age of 28 and winning all nine major titles in the badminton world becoming the first and only player to attain such result.

In his early years, he was encouraged to learn to play the piano by his parents but chose to play badminton at the age of five. At the age of 18, he has been part of China's national badminton team.

2001 marked the start of Lin Dan's professional career, however, he was thrashed by Xia Xuanze in the finals at the Asian Badminton Championships.


He took his first title at the Korea Open. In the 2002 Thomas Cup, his team was made it through to the semi-finals until being beaten by Malaysia.  Consecutive failures in the Singapore and Indonesia Opens, the Denmark Open and China Open. In October, Lin was defeated in the semifinals of the Asian Games team competition which determined China's hope of getting a gold medal.

Lin had a good start in 2004, getting BWF's number one world ranking for the first time in February. He also helped China win the qualifying round of Thomas Cup and then captured the Swiss Open. He won his first ever All England Open title by Peter Gade in the finals. 

Lin retain his number one world ranking during 2005, winning his second German and Hong Kong Open titles, as well as the Japan Open, China Masters, and World Cup tournaments. He also helped China to recapture the Sudirman Cup beating both defending champion South Korea in the semifinals and Indonesia in the final.

However, among all the victories, Lin failed to retain his All England title, losing a three set final to teammate Chen Hong, and being beaten in the final of the Malaysia Open by Lee Chong Wei. Lin was also eliminated in the semifinals of the Singapore Open and the quarterfinals of the China Open.


In 2006, Lin failed to win the German, China and Malaysia Open. Despite that, he won six individual titles in the season and recaptured All England Open, won the Chinese Taipei Open, Macau Open, Hong Kong Open and Japan Open and getting his first world title after beating his opponent Bao Chunlai in the final. 

In May, Lin and his teamamtes had extended China's Thomas Cup domination that shut out Denmark 3-0 for second consecutive title.

Lin entered 2007 with a loss to South Korea's Park Sung-hwan at the Malaysia open but threw himself back with wins in the German Open and the All England championships again. In August, Lin Dan extended his reign as the world champion when he beat Indonesia's Sony Dwi Kuncoro in the final tournament held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and became the first man Since Yang Yang to win back to back world championships.

2008

Lin lost in the final of the Korea Open to Lee Hyun-il. In march, he lost to his compatriot Chen Jin in the final of the All England Open, which was followed by press accusations that Lin deliberately "gave" the match to Chen in order to increase Chen's ranking points for Olympic qualification.
In the following week, Lin won his first Swiss Open. At the Asia's Championships, Lin was again accused of helping his compatriot when his lose to Chin Jun in the semifinals assured Chen's qualification for the Olympic Games.

Lin won the Thailand Open which was his last tournament before the 2008 Olympic Games.

In the Olympic Games, Lin went all the way to the finals to face Lee Chong Wei that ended one sided in favor of Lin Dan and became the first men's singles player to win the Olympic gold as a first seed.

In 2009, Lin won his fourth All England title by defeating Lee Chong Wei, but lost to the same opponent in the final of Swiss Open a week later.

He then continued to win the Sudirman Cup leading China to secure the Cup for the third time in a row without conceding a match to any opponent in the tournament.

Lin then went on to sweeping all titles in tournaments he participated in between August and November to become the first player to win the World Championships three times beating Chen Jin in the final. He closed the season with the China Open title before heading to Hong Kong for the East Asian Games.

2010, Lin started the season with failure to defend the All England Open title by losing in the quarterfinals. He only won his first seasonal title in the Badminton Asia Championships which marked his first title in the championships.

Lin won his fourth consecutive title after beating Indonesia in the final. After the Thomas Cup triumph, Lin played in the World Championships in Paris, France but was eliminated in the quarter finals. Lin then bounced back to win the China masters. Lin finally managed to win his first ever Asian Games hold medal in November by beating Lee Chong Wei in the final becoming the first player to win all of the present major titles available to Asians in badminton, both individual and national team. 

Lin began 2011 with a withdrawal in the Malaysia Open's quarterfinals, which marked his third withdrawal in a row since late 2010.  This action caused criticism mostly by Taufik Hidayat, who wanted the Badminton World Federation (BWF) to investigate. However, he sprang back to win the first ever million dollar badminton tournament, Korea open by beating Lee Chong Wei in the final followed by winning the German Open beating Chen Jin in the final.

However, Lin;s hope to become the first player to win five All England titles in the open era was dashed when he was defeated by his all-time rival Lee Cong Wei in the final. He then proceeded to win his second Asian Championships in April. Lin also helped China to win the fourth consecutive Surdirman Cup title in May beating Denmark 3-0 in the final. During the Singapore Open final, Lin had to withdraw due to gastric flu which drew jeers from his fans in the stadium.

In August, he won his fourth World Championships by beating Lee Chong Wei in the final which dashed Lee's hope of becoming the first Malaysian to win a gold medal in the world Championships.

And in September, he was ousted from China Masters, and withdrew from the semi-finals of Japan Open. This was followed up by a shocking exit in the second round of the Denmark Open and retiring in the semi-finals of French Open despite leading the match as stated it is due to paronychia. The retirement also marked his sixth in the season. Lin voice frustration that the peak schedule was the reason why he had the most retirement in the this season. Despite it, he ended the last three tournaments in high note, winning his fifth Hong Kong Open and China Open title respectively and his first ever Super Series Master Finals title.

In 2014, Lin Dan was on a hiatus for a period of  months, Lin Dan, ranked 104th in the World Ranking, returned and took the title in the China Masters and subsequently won the Badminton Asia Championships title.It also gave him a chance to earn another wildcard for the World Championships, as he did in 2013.
In June, Lin Dan lost in the quarterfinals of Japan Open. Afterwards, he won the Australian Open, his first Super Series title since the 2012 All England Open. 

Source: Wikipedia