Badminton bad boys Lin Dan and Taufik Hidayat are playing for than just their countries at the Thomas Cup this week — they both want bragging rights going into the Beijing Olympics.
World No. 1 Lin and Olympic champion Hidayat have a well documented history of public spats, each earning their reputation with a series of fiery outbursts.
With the Thomas Cup the last major tournament ahead of the Olympics, how the arch-rivals perform, and just as importantly behave, in the team championships will be closely scrutinized.
PHOTO: AFP
Lin might be the world’s best player but he is walking a fine line after he allegedly struck coach Ji Xinpeng in a temper tantrum during a training match last month.
It prompted a chorus of calls for him be punished with some fans demanding that the hot-headed star be dumped from China’s Olympic team.
Lin denied striking Ji but subsequently apologized.
The mercurial badminton genius was involved in a similar altercation with South Korea’s Chinese head coach Li Mao in the Korean Open early this year.
In that incident, Lin rushed Li after a questionable line call and appeared poised to hit him with his racket before trainers and team-mates intervened.
His tiffs with Hidayat are legendary and boiled over at the Asian Games in 2006 when the Indonesian superstar launched an attack on Lin, calling him arrogant and unfriendly.
The Chinese star began his Thomas Cup campaign with an early morning 21-6, 21-11 win over Nigeria’s Greg Orobosa Okuonghea yesterday.
While Lin continues to create waves with his behavior as well as with his badminton, Hidayat claims he is a reformed character since having a baby last year.
Indonesia’s biggest sports star insisted in December that his fiesty days were behind him.
“I’m more relaxed and I just think about my family now, not like before,” Hidayat said. “I was a bit terrible but now I’m more quiet. I just think about my family and about the baby.”
Hidayat has provided some of the sport’s more shocking moments.
During the national championships in 2001, he charged into the stands and attacked a spectator. He was also accused of a carpark brawl during the 2004 Thomas Cup in Jakarta, and once threatened to play for Singapore in a row over coaching.
Freddie Freeman homered and drove in four runs, Shohei Ohtani also went deep and Roki Sasaki earned his first major league win as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 10-3 on Saturday night for their seventh straight victory. The Dodgers have won the first two games of the series to improve to 5-0 against Atlanta this year. Los Angeles’ three-game sweep at home early in the season left the Braves 0-7. Sasaki allowed three runs and six hits over five innings. The 23-year-old right-hander gave up a home run to Ozzie Albies, but received plenty of offensive support in his
Bayern Munich on Sunday were crowned German champions for the 34th time, giving striker Harry Kane his first major trophy, after second-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen drew 2-2 at SC Freiburg. Bayern’s 3-3 draw at RB Leipzig on Saturday, when the Bavarians came from two goals down to take the lead before conceding a stoppage-time equalizer, meant defending Bundesliga champions Leverkusen needed to win at Freiburg to delay the title party. Leverkusen were two goals down before scoring twice in the final 10 minutes, but Xabi Alonso’s side could not find a third, as Bayern reclaimed the title at the first attempt after
A man fell from the 6.4m-high Clemente Wall in right field at PNC Park in Pittsburgh during Wednesday night’s game between the Pirates and the Chicago Cubs. Right after Andrew McCutchen hit a two-run double in the seventh inning to put the Pirates ahead 4-3, players began waving frantically for medical personnel and pointing to the man, who had fallen onto the warning track. The fan was tended to for approximately five minutes by members of both the Pirates and Cubs training staffs as well as PNC personnel before being removed from the field on a cart. The team issued a statement shortly
PAINFUL VICTORY: Ruud said that felt pain in his rib during the warmup and was put on painkillers so that he could finish the match against Argentine Francisco Cerundolo With the help of painkillers, Casper Ruud overcame a rib ailment to defeat Francisco Cerundolo in straight sets and reach the Madrid Open final on Friday. Ruud is to face Jack Draper, who beat Lorenzo Musetti 6-3, 7-6 (4) in the other semi-final to make his third final of the year. Ruud received treatment on his rib three games into the match and went on to win 6-4, 7-5 on the Caja Magica center court. The 15th-ranked Norwegian saved 15 of the 18 break points he faced against the 21st-ranked Argentine. Ruud said he felt something in his rib during the warmup, just before
RSS