Sports Desk :
Lin Dan from China earned his sixth All England Badminton Championships title when he routed teammate Tian Houwei 21-9, 21-10 in the final on Sunday. Lin, the Olympic champions lacked any tension, bolted to 4-0 lead at a stretch, and enjoyed the same margin at the changeover and pulled away.
The achievement came after12 years of his first and four years after his fifth.
There were no yells of joy or frustration, just a couple of fist pumps, and Lin could afford to play to the crowd and still win the next point.
The near full house encouraged Tian, who was trying to beat Lin in his seventh attempt, but an air of inevitability crept over proceedings.
That was fine with Lin. He averaged an hour per match to reach his ninth All England final, satisfied that a winter of hard training has built up a reserve of energy that badminton’s only two-time Olympic men’s champion will translate into a third gold in Rio de Janeiro.
The sixth championship by badminton’s greatest player came 12 years after his first, and four years after his last, when he went into semi-retirement for two years. In the women’s final, Nozomi Okuhara from Japan beat China’s Wang Shixian 21-11, 16-21 and 21-19 to celebrate her 21st birthday.
