Lee–Lin rivalry

The Lee–Lin rivalry was a rivalry between two professional badminton players, Lee Chong Wei and Lin Dan. The rivalry is widely considered the greatest rivalry the world has ever witnessed in the history of badminton.[1][2][3]

Lee and Lin battling in the final of the 2012 Olympic Games

Of their 40 meetings, Lin won the head to head battle by 28–12. They met in the final 22 times, semi-finals 15 times, including twice in the final of the Olympic Games and World Championships, which Lin took all the victories. Lin was also better in their 11 meetings in Super Series finals (including Super Series Premier) tournaments, which Lin took 9 of them.

Each athlete has their own successes. Lee won 47 Super Series titles between 2007–2017 and ranked first worldwide for 349 weeks, which included a 199-week streak from 21 August 2008 to 14 June 2012.[4][5] Lin achieved "Super Grand Slam" at age of 28 by winning all 9 premier titles.[6]

Their last meeting was 2018 All England Open, which Lin won, before Lee announced retirement due to nose cancer.

Background

Lee and Lin have played a total of 40 times, with Lin having the upper hand in their rivalry with a final head to head record of 28–12.[7] Lee Chong Wei and Lin Dan are by far two of the most dominant players across three generations and many regard Lin Dan as the greatest of all time, leading to media and players alike to liken the period between 2006 and 2016 as the Lin-Lee era.[8][9][10]

As both great athletes, they are noted for their signature playing styles. Lee is famed for his incredible speed, counter-attacking prowess, crouch defence, recovery, deceptive net play and steep, hard-hitting jump smashes. Some have considered the cross-court smash as Lee's favourite shot despite its difficulty to execute. Lin, on the other hand, is famed for his patience, tactical awareness in adjusting to his opponents' style of play, sudden unleashing of huge and especially heavy attacks, sliding defence and all-round court play. Over the years, with the decline of fellow legend Taufik Hidayat and Danish great Peter Gade, Lee and Lin continuously adjusted their game to better suit the playing styles of each other, having already reached a level far beyond everyone else and thus began cementing their duopoly which lasted around a decade. During this time, they often swatted other competitors aside before engaging one another in major tournament finals. This continued until the emergence of eventual 2-time world champion and 2016 Olympic champion Chen Long and 2017 world champion Viktor Axelsen as Lin and Lee entered their 30s.

In their homeland, each hold a military rank, with Lee a Commander (Honorary) of the Royal Malaysian Navy Volunteer Reserve unit and Lin a retired Lieutenant colonel in the People's Liberation Army Sports branch,[11] having been promoted from the ranks of Lieutenant commander and Major respectively, meaning they have the same seniority in terms of military rank.[12] In 2015, Lin Dan announced he was to leave the PLA's Bayi Badminton Club after a 20-year service due to strict military protocols prohibiting him from partaking in any commercial activities.[13]

They have contested in many major tournament finals and are currently the only two badminton men singles players who have contested in two Olympic finals consecutively, which saw Lin triumph both times to become the only man in history to defend his Olympic gold. Lin first won in Beijing 2008 in a one-sided final before the 2 men clashed once again 4 years later in an unprecedented but widely-anticipated repeat final at London 2012.[14][15][16] This time around, the match was much closer with Lee drawing first blood before Lin hit back to take the match to a decider. The game swung back and forth before Lee got his nose in front at the crucial end to take a 19–18 lead. However, as fate would have it, Lee lost his mental battle once again and produced continuous errors and gifting Lin his 2nd gold, becoming the only man in men singles' to defend his gold. As Lin celebrated wildly around the arena, Lee remained motionless and teared up before his coaches consoled him to leave the court. Lee's mental strength became a glaring talking point over the years as there were numerous times when he performed better than Lin only to lose at the very end. Detractors in Malaysia often disparage Lee's unfortunate lack of stamina towards the end with labels such as "pancut awal". Former men doubles' world champion Steen Fladberg, who is now a commentator, once remarked that he thought Lee was the best player in London 2012 but simply lost his focus at the end. Lee went on to contest a third consecutive final after defeating Lin in their colossal 2016 Summer Olympics semi-final.[1]

They have also contested two BWF World Championships finals, one Asian Games final and semi-final, similarly in the Badminton Asia Championships and four All England Open Badminton Championships finals where almost all matches were very close hard-fought three-setters.[17] Their 2011 World Badminton Championship match widely touted as one of the greatest badminton matches of all the time. In the semi-finals of the 2016 Rio Olympics, most possibly the last Olympic Games of both athletes' careers, Lee Chong Wei won against Lin Dan, in his third attempt on the Olympic stage, making Lee the second shuttler in any discipline of the sport in history to reach 3 consecutive finals after Fu Haifeng who had achieved the feat a day earlier in men doubles. In the rubber game of the match, the 2 men played to near perfection going point-for-point until 16 all when Lee pulled ahead for a 19–16 and 20–17 lead, thus, holding 3 match points. In dramatic fashion reminiscence of their monumental battle in the London 2012 final, Lin saved all 3, before a mistake gave Lee a fourth match point which he converted and sinking to his knees, the match was widely touted to look and feel more of a final then the actual final match. Videos uploaded onto social media captured the overwhelming and emotional response from Malaysians watching throughout the country, further highlighting Lee's megastar and hero status in his home country.[18] The two players then exchanged a special moment in their rivalry and exchanged shirts as they exited the court. The 2016 Rio Games marks an end in the badminton era dominated by Lee and Lin.[19] After the epic marathon battle in the semi-final against Lin, 34-year old Lee lacked the energy for another high-level match and fell in the final against Chen Long, prompting China's then-head coach Li Yongbo to remark that Lee would have already become a world champion if he had trained under the Chinese national team. He reasoned this was due to the fact that Lee had managed to come so close countless times over the years only to be denied by Lin at the very end despite training in much-less favourable conditions compared to the well-funded Chinese national team.[20][21]

Early on in their career, whenever Lin and Lee were to play one another, fans were extremely hostile towards their opposite number, often trading barbs, insults and even expletives. Occasionally, Lee had to remind fans that Lin was a personal friend of his and hoped that his fans would change their attitude towards his arch-rival. Over time, hostility became admiration, hatred became respect as fans realised that what they were witnessing was a once in a generation great sporting rivalry of the highest level and began cheering for both players, most evidently when they played in Malaysia and China. Most evidently, when Lee returned from his 8-month doping suspension to represent Malaysia in the 2015 Sudirman Cup held in Dongguan, China, he was given a rousing ovation when announced onto court to take on Lee Dong-keun. This prompted commentator, Gillian Clark, to quip, "Listen to the crowd here, it isn't a Chinese player, it's Lee Chong Wei!". Lee's coach Tey Seu Bock even labelled their rivalry 'limited-edition'.[22] However, this does not stop some hardcore fans who take every opportunity that arises to disparage Lee's accomplishments and status by comparing the two and will point out the fact that Lee, the perennial World No. 1, has never won an Olympic or world title whilst Lin has won both multiple times. Unfortunately, this usually leads to heated exchanges from both sides of supporters, especially on social media. Level-headed fans will try to calm things down by reminding that this once-in-an-era rivalry has entered its final chapter and everyone should be appreciating what the two men has showcased throughout their storied careers rather than be at loggerheads till the very end. Over the years, both Lee and Lin mentioned numerous times in interviews that they would never have become what they are without the other as their motivation. Nevertheless, the pair are good friends off court, having invited one another to each other's weddings and sharing a mutual love for fast cars and watches. Among the cars that Lee is known to own or have owned include a blue Lamborghini Huracán, blue Range Rover Sport, blue BMW M5, crystal grey Bentley Continental GT, a white Audi R8, a white Ferrari F430, a grey Nissan Skyline GTR, Range Rover Evoque, Range Rover, yellow Lamborghini Aventador and a BMW X6 besides the cars given to him by national automaker Proton, mostly bearing the car plate number of 6, including a 'BMW 6' currently registered to his M5.[23][24] Lin, on the other hand, has a Porsche Panamera, a grey Aston Martin DBS and also a black Nissan Skyline GTR among his vast collection of supercars.[25][26]

Most fans and professionals regard Lee Chong Wei and Lin Dan as among the finest shuttlers the sport has ever seen, becoming huge crowd attractions and their battles dubbed the 'Lin-Lee War'. Hence, it is widely believed that they will eventually take their place in the uppermost echelon of badminton folklore alongside legends from the yesteryears such as Wong Peng Soon, Sir George Thomas, Eddy Choong, Erland Kops, Han Jian, Rudy Hartono, Liem Swie King, Zhao Jianhua, Morten Frost and perhaps the greatest in the history of the sport, Yang Yang, who are among the handful who have reached the peak of badminton, and inducted into the Badminton Hall of Fame as well when they hang up their racquets for good.

List of all head-to-head matches

No.	Year	Tournament	Series	Round	Winner	Score	Lee	Lin
1	2004	Thomas Cup Asia Preliminaries		Final	Lin	3–15, 15–13, 15–6	0	1
2	2005	Malaysia Open		Final	Lee	17–15, 9–15, 15–9	1	1
3	2005	Hong Kong Open		Semi-finals	Lin	15–4, 15–6	1	2
4	2006	All England Open		Semi-finals	Lin	15–9, 10–15, 17–14	1	3
5	2006	Malaysia Open		Final	Lee	21–18, 18–21, 23–21	2	3
6	2006	Chinese Taipei Open		Final	Lin	21–18, 12–21, 21–11	2	4
7	2006	Macau Open		Final	Lin	21–18, 18–21, 21–18	2	5
8	2006	Hong Kong Open		Final	Lin	21–19, 8–21, 21–16	2	6
9	2007	Sudirman Cup	BWF tournaments	Group stage	Lee	21–17, 21–17	3	6
10	2007	China Masters	Super Series	Semi-finals	Lin	15–21, 21–14, 21–15	3	7
11	2007	Japan Open	Super Series	Semi-finals	Lee	21–19, 21–15	4	7
12	2007	Hong Kong Open	Super Series	Final	Lin	9–21, 21–15, 21–15	4	8
13	2008	Swiss Open	Super Series	Final	Lin	21–13, 21–18	4	9
14	2008	Thomas Cup	BWF tournaments	Semi-finals	Lee	21–12, 21–14	5	9
15	2008	Olympic Games	Multi-sport events	Final	Lin	21–12, 21–8	5	10
16	2008	China Open	Super Series	Final	Lin	21–18, 21–9	5	11
17	2009	All England Open	Super Series	Final	Lin	21–19, 21–12	5	12
18	2009	Swiss Open	Super Series	Final	Lee	21–16, 21–16	6	12
19	2009	Sudirman Cup	BWF tournaments	Semi-finals	Lin	21–16, 21–16	6	13
20	2009	China Masters	Super Series	Semi-finals	Lin	22–20, 15–21, 21–7	6	14
21	2010	Thomas Cup	BWF tournaments	Semi-finals	Lin	21–17, 21–8	6	15
22	2010	Japan Open	Super Series	Final	Lee	22–20, 16–21, 21–17	7	15
23	2010	Asian Games	Multi-sport events	Final	Lin	21–13, 15–21, 21–10	7	16
24	2011	Korea Open	Super Series Premier	Final	Lin	21–19, 14–21, 21–16	7	17
25	2011	All England Open	Super Series Premier	Final	Lee	21–17, 21–17	8	17
26	2011	BWF World Championships	BWF tournaments	Final	Lin	20–22, 21–14, 23–21	8	18
27	2011	Hong Kong Open	Super Series	Semi-finals	Lin	21–16, 21–14	8	19
28	2011	China Open	Super Series Premier	Semi-finals	Lin	19–21, 21–12, 21–11	8	20
29	2012	Korea Open	Super Series Premier	Final	Lee	12–21, 21–18, 21–14	9	20
30	2012	All England Open	Super Series Premier	Final	Lin	21–19, 6–2^r	9	21
31	2012	Olympic Games	Multi-sport events	Final	Lin	15–21, 21–10, 21–19	9	22
32	2013	BWF World Championships	BWF tournaments	Final	Lin	16–21, 21–13, 20–17^r	9	23
33	2014	Asian Games	Multi-sport events	Semi-finals	Lin	22–20, 12–21, 21–9	9	24
34	2015	Japan Open	Super Series	Last 16	Lin	21–17, 21–10	9	25
35	2015	China Open	Super Series Premier	Semi-finals	Lee	17–21, 21–19, 21–19	10	25
36	2016	Badminton Asia Championships	BAC tournaments	Semi-finals	Lee	22–20, 15–21, 21–4	11	25
37	2016	Olympic Games	Multi-sport events	Semi-finals	Lee	15–21, 21–11, 22–20	12	25
38	2017	Malaysia Open	Super Series Premier	Final	Lin	21–19, 21–14	12	26
39	2017	Badminton Asia Championships	BAC tournaments	Semi-finals	Lin	21–13, 21–15	12	27
40	2018	All England Open	Super 1000	Quarter-finals	Lin	21–16, 21–17	12	28

Analysis

Comparison by medals

Tournament	Lee			Lin
	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Olympic Games	0	3	0	2	0	0
Asian Games	0	1	2	2	1	0
World Championships	0	4	1	5	2	0
World Cup	0	0	0	2	0	0
Asia Championships	2	0	2	4	2	1
World Junior Championships	0	0	1	0	0	1
Asia Junior Championships	0	0	0	1	0	0

Comparison by titles

Tournament	Lee	Lin
Super Series Finals	4	1
All England Open	4	6
Australian Open	0	1
Brasil Open	0	1
China Masters	0	6
Canadian Open	1	0
China Open	1	5
Chinese Taipei Open	1	2
Denmark Open	2	3
French Open	3	1
German Open	0	6
Hong Kong Open	5	5
India Open	3	0
India Satellite	1	0
Indonesia Open	6	0
Japan Open	6	3
Korea Open	3	3
Macau Open	2	1
Malaysia Masters	5	0
Malaysia Open	12	2
Malaysia Satellite	1	0
New Zealand Open	0	1
Philippines Open	1	0
Singapore Open	1	0
Swiss Open	2	3
Thailand Open	0	1
U.S. Open	1	0
Total	65	51

Notable records

Lee is the most successful player during the Super Series era from 2007–2017, amassing 47 titles. With the Super Series replaced by the new World Tour tournament system from 2018, Lee's record can no longer be surpassed. He also spent 348 weeks on the top of the world ranking, these including 199 consecutive weeks from August 2008 to June 2012.[27]

In March 2017, Lee is the oldest singles player in the Open era to win the All England Open at the age of 34 years and 142 days.[28]

At age 28, Lin achieves "Super Grand Slam" by won all 9 premier titles in the world of badminton: Olympic Games, World Championships, World Cup, Thomas Cup, Sudirman Cup, Super Series Finals, All England Open, Asian Games, and Asian Championships, becoming the first and only player to achieve this feat.[29][30]

Lin became the first men's singles player to retain the Olympic title.[31] He also became the first singles player contested the All England Open final 10 times.[32]

Lee Chong Wei is record title holder for several tournament: Malaysia Open (12 titles),[33] first non-Indonesian won Indonesia Open 6 times,[34] Japan Open (6 times).[35] Lin won a record 5 China Open and 6 China Masters titles. Currently, both are joint 5-time Hong Kong Open record titles.[36]

Relationship

Although Lin often criticised for his brashness and arrogance on the court. They are friends on and off the court, use each other to improve themselves. Lee also attended Lin's wedding in 2012, and partnered together during exhibition matches.[37]

During the 2013 World Championships final, Lin checked on Lee when the latter suffered leg cramps. In the post match interview, Lin said "he is my enemy, but in the other mean, he also is my best friend in world of badminton, we are not an enemy like years before, we are cherish every moment we playing together, we are not young anymore and thanks to this great opponent".[38]

Lee make appearances during the 2019 Malaysia Masters final, by presenting the title to Lin.[39]

In April 2020, Lee described Lin as "He's a legend. His titles speak for themselves. We have to salute him." in his Facebook. He considers Lin as the greatest player also admitted that he obsessed to better than Lin.[40][41] Lee also defended Lin that he is no need to prove anything anymore as Lin has won all the major titles.[42]

Cultural impact

The Lee–Lin rivalry has been hailed as the great rivalry in badminton sport, and even transformed the world of badminton, a rivalry happened when badminton needed an inspiration, thus also making the badminton sport popular.[43][44]

After the Rio Olympics semi-finals clash which Lee won, Lin wrote an emotional letter to Lee, although it was revealed fake and wrote by an unnamed fan, but it was described as touching by the media.[45]

Hours after his announcement of retirement from the sport, members of the media and players alike paid tribute to him.[46] His career-long rival, Lin Dan, wrote on Sina Weibo that he now has to "head into battle alone, as he no longer has a companion anymore (独自上场没人陪我了)", and shared a song titled "Don't Cry, Friend" (朋友别哭).[47]

References

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2. Rajes Paul (4 August 2013). "Chong Wei-Lin Dan rivalry has improved badminton, says Jorgensen". The Star. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
3. Nicholas Chow; Chris Aaron. "The greatest rivalries in sports [Lee Chong Wei vs. Lin Dan]". MSN Sports. Archived from the original on 24 September 2011. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
4. Hearn, Don (13 June 2019). "Lee Chong Wei calls time on a brilliant badminton career". Badzine. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
5. "Chong Wei calls it quits". The Star Online. thestar.com.my. 13 June 2019. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
6. "China's Lin Dan wins 1st "Super Grand Slam"". NDTV Sports. Agence-France Presse. 18 December 2011. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
7. "Lin Dan vs. Lee Chong Wei [Head-to-head analysis]". Badminton World Federation. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
8. Richard Eaton. "Lin Dan: The Greatest Ever". iBADMINTONstore.com. Archived from the original on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
9. "Lin Dan the greatest, says record-breaking Gade". Agence France-Presse. NDTV Sports. 6 March 2012. Archived from the original on 14 January 2014. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
10. "Incredible as Lin Dan wins fifth world title". Badminton England. 11 August 2013. Archived from the original on 9 November 2013. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
11. Alvin Ybanez (22 October 2015). "Badminton Star Lin Dan Leaves Army to Focus on Endorsements". Yibada. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
12. "Lee Chong Wei made honorary commander in Navy". Free Malaysia Today. 7 October 2016. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
13. Yan Lin (16 October 2015). "Olympic medalist Lin Dan to leave Bayi badminton club". China Daily. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
14. "Photos: Lin Dan of China wins Badminton Men's Singles gold". 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. 17 August 2008. Archived from the original on 6 April 2014. Retrieved 9 November 2013.
15. David Segal (5 August 2012). "In Battle Between Longtime Rivals, More Than One Gold Is in Offing". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
16. Jonathan Liew (6 August 2012). "London 2012 Olympics: rock star of badminton Lin Dan wins singles final to end Malaysia's hopes of first gold medal". The Telegraph. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
17. "Badminton: Lin Dan wins world title as Lee Chong Wei retires". BBC Sport. 11 August 2013. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
18. Belmont Lay (20 August 2016). "M'sians go nuts as Lee Chong Wei beat China's Lin Dan in Olympics men's badminton semi-final". Mothership.sg. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
19. "Lee Chong Wei: Down but not out". Badminton World Federation. 14 August 2011. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
20. "China coach: Chong Wei may already be world champion under my team". Malaysiakini. 22 August 2016. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
21. John Lim (23 August 2016). "Chong Wei Would've Been A World Champion If He Trained Under Me, Says China Coach". Says.com. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
22. G Khrishnan (20 August 2013). "Lin Dan-Chong Wei rivalry is limited edition, says coach". DNA India. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
23. "JPJ releases tender results for BMW number plate". Paul Tan. 4 October 2014. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
24. "Chong Wei hopes for better 2019 after cancer battle". The Star. 31 December 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
25. Chow How Ban (19 March 2011). "Chong Wei and Lin Dan just love fast cars". The Star. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
26. Rajes Paul (26 May 2014). "Rivals in the arena, but friends in real life". The Star. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
27. Sikdar, Sandip (5 July 2019). "Malaysia's badminton king Lee Chong Wei retires after cancer battle". hindustantimes. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
28. "Lee wins 'surprising' fourth All England title". The Nation Thailand. 12 March 2017. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
29. "史上最佳"送林丹绝不是奉承 超级大满贯前无古人. Sina (in Chinese). 21 November 2010. Retrieved 2 February 2011.
30. "China's Lin Dan wins 1st "Super Grand Slam"". NDTV Sports. Agence-France Presse. 18 December 2011. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
31. "Great Lin retains Olympic title". China.org.cn. 5 August 2012. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
32. Dan, Mu (18 March 2018). "Lin Dan reaches record 10th final at All England Open". CGTN. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
33. "Lee Chong Wei wins historic 12th Malaysia Open title". The Indian Express. 1 July 2018. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
34. Zheng Guan, Kng (5 June 2016). "Chong Wei wins sixth Indonesia Open title". The Star. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
35. Liew, Vincent (25 September 2016). "Lee Chong Wei wins record sixth Japan Open title". BadmintonPlanet.com. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
36. Giles, Thomas (26 November 2017). "Lee Chong Wei wins record fifth Hong Kong Open title as upsets seedings". inside the games. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
37. Pang, Vexhin (22 August 2016). "These Pictures Perfectly Show The Rivalry & Bromance Of The Two Badminton Titans". Vulcan Post. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
38. "李宗伟因伤退赛成就林丹 用温情告别第32次"林李之战"". people.cn (in Chinese). 12 August 2013. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
39. Peter, Fabian (20 January 2019). "Chong Wei lights up final day of Malaysia Masters". New Straits Times. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
40. Alva, Suraj (6 May 2020). "Lee Chong Wei Chooses Long-time Rival Lin Dan As Greatest Ever Badminton Player". Republicworld.com. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
41. "Lee: Lin Dan's the Greatest, I was Obsessed with Him". Badminton World Federation. 16 April 2020. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
42. "李宗伟力挺林丹:他已赢得所有大赛荣誉 不需再证明". Sina Sports (in Chinese). 25 March 2020. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
43. "Lin Dan versus Lee Chong Wei: How badminton's great rivalry was born". Today. 23 May 2020. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
44. Liew, Vincent (13 June 2019). "The end of Lee-Lin era, the rivalry that transformed badminton world". BadmintonPlanet.com. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
45. "Fake, but nonetheless touching: Lin Dan 'purportedly' writes emotional letter to great rival Lee Chong Wei after Rio clash". Zee News. 21 August 2016. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
46. "You'll always be a hero for us: Carolina Marin leads tributes on Twitter to retiring Lee Chong Wei". Scroll.in. 13 June 2019. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
47. "Lin Dan pays tribute as Chong Wei calls it a day". Borneo Post Online. theborneopost.com. 14 June 2019. Retrieved 14 June 2019.

External links

• "Lee Chong Wei". BWF.tournamentsoftware.com.
• "Lin Dan". BWF.tournamentsoftware.com.