8 Facts About The Rivalry Between Lee Chong Wei & Lin Dan You Probably Didn’t Know

Last Updated on 2020-02-17 , 4:51 pm

Reader: So, who’s Lin Dan? 

I’ll get to that, dear reader.

If you’ve been watching the Olympics game on TV recently, you would have seen the nerve-wrecking badminton showdown between the professional badminton players, Malaysian’s Lee Chong Wei and China’s Lin Dan.

The pair stands out from other professional players because they shared an extraordinary bond between rivals. Here’re 8 facts you may not know about the players and their rivalry.

There’s a dedicated Wikipedia page just talking about the rivalry

Titled the Lee-Lin Rivalry, the page documents the scores, cultural impact and the record of each game that both competed against each other.

Considered the greatest rivalry in badminton in their generation

They shared a bond like no other and is considered to have the best rivalry in badminton. They are known to be two of the most dominant players in their generation and have garnered many fans from all over the world.

Both of their first chosen interest wasn’t badminton

You may have thought that they took a liking to badminton since young but that wasn’t the case. Apparently, Lee Chong Wei was interested in basketball and Lin Dan preferred the piano.

Both of their wives are sportswomen

Both of them met and married fellow badminton sportswomen and they are pretty skillful in the sport. Lee Chong Wei married his wife, Wong Mew Choo in 2012 and she is known for her exceptional stamina and endurance during practices and competitions. Lin Dan also married his wife, Xie Xingfang in 2012 and scored multiple gold medals in various championships.

Lin Dan was the leading winner in all of the games shared between the two

The pair shared a total of 31 games and Lin Dan leads the rivalry with 22 to 9. They competed in various major competitions including 3 Olympics game, Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016.

Lee Chong Wei beat his friendnemy after 8 years in the court

After 8 years since the last game, Lee Chong Wei made history by beating his long time rival, Lin Dan in the 2016 Olympics game. Everyone was on their edge of their seats watching Lee Chong Wei secure 3 match points, Lin saving all 3 and then Lee making the whole of Malaysia proud by sealing a 4th when he made a cross court smash.

A letter supposedly written by Lin Dan to Lee Chong Wei was fake

A touching letter that was said to be written by Lin Dan to Lee Chong Wei which gained much attention from all over the world after Lin lost to Lee turns out to be a work of fiction. The letter which was written in Chinese depicts a letter of gratitude with words of thanks to Lee for constantly being there to compete with Lin. Mentions of Lin being encouraged to keep going and strived to be better because Lee was always improving was said. The letter ended with Lin saying that he did not mind losing the game and had no regrets to his greatest rival.

They exchanged shirts after the match in the 2016 Olympics game

After the close and high pressured game, the pair shared a moment of embrace and exchanged their shirts before exiting the court. Lin Dan accepted the result and wished Lee Chong Wei the best for the finals with Chinese world champion, Chen Long.

This article was first published on goodyfeed.com.