Rio: Two time Olympic champion in the badminton men’s singles event, Lin Dan, was given a thorough work out by his Russian opponent Vladimir Malkov at the Rio Olympics.
A little bump Lin Dan came with during his second Group E match against Malkov turned out to make his heart beat faster as the defending champion won 21-18, 21-7 at the Fourth Pavilion of Riocentro on Friday, reports Xinhua.
“Malkov was tougher and light hearted, and he did create a lot of trouble in the first game,” said the 32-year-old Chinese.
Dan tried to dominate the first game, but Malkov could always find his ways to make the points even. They tied 9-9, then 14-14 and 18-18, before Dan clinched the opening game 21-18 in 26 minutes.
However, Dan later on found the solutions to Malkov’s powerful smashes as he won the second game 21-7 in 15 minutes.
The five-time world champion Dan admitted that he struggled during the first game.
“The difficulty on the court could make my heart beating faster, which is good. It will help me to prepare for the last group match against Vietnam’s Nguyen Tien Minh the day after tomorrow,” said the Chinese.
“When facing difficulties on the court, I think it’s very important to adjust my attitude. Because in the Olympic Games, a slight change in mind could possibly change the result,” Dan attributed his success to attitude adjustment.
He will be playing his next group stage match here on Sunday against Nguyen Tien Minh of Vietnam.
