Lin Dan In His Element Now, Says Taufik

KUALA LUMPUR, May 16 (Bernama) -- Athens Olympics champion Taufik Hidayat predicts that Beijing Olympics gold medallist Lin Dan will continue to dominate the world men's singles until the next Olympics in London in 2012.

The Indonesian, ranked world number five, said Lin Dan was currently in his element and easily could beat the top 10 men's singles players in the world ranking.

"For me, he's the world best singles ace. Second is (Datuk) Lee Chong Wei (Malaysia), Chen Jin (China), Peter Hoeg Gade (Denmark), Bao Chunlai (China) and then, may be me," he told reporters here Sunday.

In today's Thomas Cup finals between China and Indonesia, Taufik lost 17-21, 14-21 to Lin Dan who is also men's world number two singles, behind Chong Wei.

China beat Indonesia 3-0 in today's final.

Taufik said, although he played with the Chinese in many tournaments, he did not know Lin Dan's weaknesses.

Lin Dan, on the other hand, says he is not a superior player.

"I sweat a lot, like the others, too. Maybe, my training makes me what I am today," he said.

On who his toughest nemesis was in the Thomas Cup campaign, Lin Dan said he was happy to play against the best singles players in the world, Chong Wei (Malaysia), Taufik (Indonesia) and Peter Hoeg Gade (Denmark).

"But I think Chong Wei is still one of my toughest rivals...but I'm happy to have beaten him here," he said.

Lin Dan beat Chong Wei 21-17, 21-8 in the semi-finals on Friday.

On his future plans, Lin Dan said he would be busy with China's inaugural professional badminton league which would kick-off at the end of the month.

"I hope players like Chong Wei and Taufik would take part to make the event merrier," he said.

Source from BERNAMA

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