Changzhou: Indonesia’s Anthony Sinisuka Ginting has delivered a badminton masterclass to send two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan crashing out of the China Open in Changzhou, China on Tuesday.
The Indonesian player lost the first set to Lin 22-24.
In the second game, Ginting was completely on offense, opened up a 7-0 lead against Lin to reach 11-1 at the interval. Lin was not able to catch up with Ginting’s speed in the second set, surrendering with 5-21.
Lin Da produced some at-times breathtaking shots in the third set, rallying from 5-7 to lead at 9-8. The daring Ginting stole a move right out of the Lin Dan’s playbook with several audacious smashes to regain his lead at 17-11. Then, Lin Dan decided to speed up his pace to disrupt Ginting’s rhythm, forcing the Indonesia player to make several unforced errors, and stealing the lead at 19-18. Unfortunately, the Chinese badminton legend couldn’t finish the match, losing three consecutive points to go down 19-21 to Ginting.
The World No. 10 Anthony Sinisuka Ginting will take on World No. 1 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark in the second round.
Axelsen, on the other hand, dominated the opener to ease past last week’s Japan Open runner-up Khosit Phetpradab of Thailand 21-12, 21-15.
Another home favorite player, Chen Long, was also made to work before overcoming compatriot Huang Yuxiang, 20-22, 21-19, 21-13.
Chen will meet Denmark’s Jan Jorgensen next.
The China Open is one of only three Super 1000 rated events on the BWF World Tour. It offered total prize money of USD $1,000,000.
