Watched with devious delight the defeat of Lin Dan by Taufik Hidayat in the Men’s Badminton Final, Doha Asian Games last night. Lin’s play looked shaky for the better part of the game despite showing occasional brilliance. Taufik deserves the gold medal and every plaudits that roar out of the rancorous crowd. No less, he brought down his perpetual nemesis and archrival in two straight sets. Lin Dan’s sweetheart, Xie Xingfang’s (also a top badminton player) resentment of Taufik must have upped a few notches.
Also applauses to the Malaysian doubles pair Koo and Tan whose sterling performance against the Indonesians landed them a historic gold medal! Rexy, the coach will be immensely relieved. We have a new world championship-winning material in the team of Koo and Tan. Our patience with the badminton contingent has not gone in vain. That is not to say we have forgiven the horrendous form of Mr Lee Chong Wei.