LONDON — No sooner had Lin Dan confirmed himself as the best badminton player ever after successfully defending his Olympic singles title than he invited beaten foe and friend Lee Chong Wei to his wedding.
“I hope he accepts,” Lin said at their news conference on Sunday.
Chong Wei didn’t reply, but as their friendship goes back a decade, he’s likely to. There was nothing friendly between them about an hour beforehand, when they produced a gripping final in Wembley Arena that lived up to the hype.
Lin won 15-21, 21-10, 21-19 to repeat his victory over Chong Wei in the Beijing Games final, and claim his sixth Olympic or world title.
“There’s only one Lin Dan in the world,” Chong Wei said.
If he hadn’t been gracious it would have been understandable. Lin’s wizardry with a racket has reduced Chong Wei to being the greatest player yet to win an Olympic or world title. That was why he will keep playing to 2014, to give himself two more chances to win the world title missing from his 42 career titles, only six less than Lin.
“He’s such a brilliant rival that I am quite lucky,” Lin said. “I treasure the opportunities of playing him.”
Chong Wei was desperate for a different kind of treasure. Under considerable pressure to deliver Malaysia’s first-ever Olympic gold medal, he told his country and fans afterwards, “I’m sorry.”
But of Malaysia’s three silver medals, he now owns two of them as their most successful Olympian.
“The whole match was fierce, it was so close,” Chong Wei said.
Chong Wei slumped to the court, hunched over in tears.
“I am very disappointed with a silver medal again,” he said. “I worked very hard but what’s done is done.”
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