Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia entered the Rio Olympics with one goal in mind. Win the gold medal in the badminton men's singles tournament. Twice denied on the doorstep of achieving that goal, Lee is in his fourth Olympics now at age 33, and he is running out of time to achieve that goal. The most successful Malaysian Olympian of all time, Lee will likely have to eventually defeat his hated rival, two-time defending gold-medalist Lin Dan of China.
However, to secure a third rematch with the Chinese champion, Wei has to get through the group stage and several knockout rounds to reach a rematch with Lin. At age 32, Lin is an aging badminton veteran, just like Lee. He has two less overall titles than Wei, but two more gold medals, both earned in victories over the Malaysian. Both players played their first round of group play on Thursday morning, neither showing any signs of rust or slip-up in their dominant victories.
Lin dominates Austrian in opener
Looking for his third Olympic gold medal, Lin began his hunt in style with a dominant 21-5, 21-11 victory to open his tournament play. Facing Austrian David Obernosterer, Lin dominated both games, his points coming fast and furious, as the match took just 34 minutes. After trailing by two points early in game 1, Lin took the lead courtesy of an 8-0 run and never looked back throughout the rest of the match. He won his serve by a whopping 17-3 margin and simply overwhelmed Obernosterer with his play. He only had to play against the Austrian's serve six times in the entire first game, a 21-5 victory for the defending gold medalist.
Although the second game was a little bit closer, Lin still cruised, never trailing in the 21-11 match clincher. Lin gave up more points, meaning he had to face Obernoster's serve more often, but he managed to split the points he faced without service 7-7, paving the way for the Chinese player to take control of the game with dominance on his own serve (14-4). He ripped off a six point streak to pull away from Obernosterer, needing just two match points to seal the deal.
Dan will face Vladimir Malkov of Russia tomorrow. Malkov dropped a tough match today 15-21, 21-9, 21-13 to Nguyen Tien Minh, of Vietnam, which makes his match against the two-time defending gold medalist a must-win match for the Russian.
Lee produces jaw-dropping performance in opener
There is no doubt that Lee Chong Wei is playing with a grudge, having been denied a gold medal twice in a row at the Olympics. In his opener on Thursday, Lee let out some of his frustration, thumping Suriname's Soren Opti 21-2, 21-3. He allowed a mere five points in a blazingly quick 19-minute match. In Game 1, Lee won his serve 19-2, only facing two points without service, and winning them both. Never trailing, Lee ripped off several large runs, including a match-high ten straight points to seize control in a lopsided Game 1. Opti managed just two points and couldn't keep his serve on his opportunities, losing both his service points to the dominant Malaysian, who capitalized on his first game point opportunity to clinch Game 1, 21-2.
Game 2 was almost a mirror image of Game 1, although Opti garnered three points in this round. Once again, all three points were scattered, and the Suriname player failed to win a single point on his own serve, while the Malaysian won his own serve 18-3. Opti could do absolutely nothing, as he simply became the first pin to fall in Lee's revenge run in the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Lee doesn't play again until Sunday, when he looks to clinch a spot in the knockout round with a win over Derek Wong Zi Liang of Singapore.
Other Games
Only two other games were played in the morning beside those of Malkov, Lin, and Lee. One of those came from a medal favorite in Chen Long, out of China. Long cruised 21-7, 21-10 over Niluka Karunaratne of Sri Lanka in the opening match. He has two more matches remaining, on Saturday and Sunday.
Although he faced a stiffer challenge than the other favorites, the fourth seed in the Olympic field, Viktor Axelsen, one of two ranked Denmark players, also earned a two-game sweep, 21-14, 21-13 over Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand.