MALAYSIA OPEN 2011 Day 3 – Lin and one Lee cruise into quarters

Lin Dan beat Lee Hyun Il of Korea in their first match since Lee’s return to the international stage.

By Adrian Kok, Badzine Correspondent live in Kuala Lumpur. Photos: Yves Lacroix  for Badmintonphoto (live)

Lee Hyun Il (pictured) played a superb game to start off and took an early lead but Lin followed in hot pursuit. A couple smashes from Lee went astray gifting Lin some easy points. Nonetheless, Lin did not let his guard down and continue to battle it out with the crafty Korean.  Lin looked relaxed and played an opportunistic game.  Lin overtook the upstart at 9-all and continued to push his lead until he closed out the first game 21-15.

Lin gave Lee a lot of pressure in the second game, forcing the Korean to make plenty of mistakes. Lin hammered Lee will his cross-court smashes.  Smashes by Lee were well defended by Lin, causing Lee to try other strategies.  Lin continued his dominance till the end of the match, winning the second game 21- 8, and setting up a quarter-final date with team-mate Chen Long.

Lee Chong Wei (pictured) was impeccable in his second round match against Hu Yun of Hong Kong.  Even before the match started, Lee was greeted with much applause but a louder applause was heard in the stadium when Lee’s long-time coach Misbun Sidek (pictured below) sat down on the coach’s bench. Lee blasted his way through the first game, a whole different person compared to yesterday’s match, where he struggled a fair bit.

Lee finished the first game with much supremacy but Hu picked up his pace in the second game. He made many attempts to move Lee to all corners of the court but Lee was just too fast. Lee picked up his pace and continued his dominance over Hu, winning in straight games 21-6, 21-9.

In the press conference, Lee said that he was surprised that Misbun turn up as part of the coaching staff.

“This is a good sign and I hope that my coach will continue to turn up in matches to come,” said Lee. His opponent tomorrow will be Nguyen Tien Minh, where the two men will by vying for the opportunity to take on the last Chinese man standing, after the bout between Lin Dan and Chen Long.

For complete results from Day 3 of the 2011 Proton Malaysia Open Super Series, CLICK HERE