Dan’s the man as Evans falls short

IT isn’t often that the man considered by many to be the greatest badminton player in the history of the sport finds himself struggling to win the affection of a crowd.

But yesterday was one of those rare days for Lin Dan at the Wembley Arena when he began his Olympic singles title defence against Ireland’s Scott Evans.

Dan may have steamrolled over the Dubliner (21-8, 21-14) but the Chinese superstar was taken aback by the support for the underdog.

“There were a lot of Chinese supporters to cheer us on but the main support was for the Irish because this is home crowd too,” Dan admitted afterwards.

And they weren’t afraid to make themselves seen or heard. Tricolours dotted the giant arena which is alongside the famed football stadium. Chants of ‘Ireland, Ireland’ broke out intermittently while every point Evans produced generated a roar that dwarfed anything his more illustrious opponent could manage from the crowd.

An emotional Evans struggled to put the sight of the flags and fans into context.

“You don’t normally walk into a hall playing against him where the support is double what he has. Normally it’s the other way around: you have one person supporting you and 500,000 people supporting him. I can’t put into words what it means to me. It wasn’t a good idea that I looked up and saw my brother standing up shouting for me. I don’t know to explain it; that really means so much to me. He texted me earlier as well saying that he would be in the crowd being a proud brother. I almost start crying when he is doing something like that.”

Dan is the posterboy for the sport of badminton with many analysts comparing his domination to that of Roger Federer in tennis. Evans believes such assertions still fall wide of the mark.

“I would put him ahead of Roger Federer. He’s by far the best player that’s ever played badminton. Watch the Olympic final in 2008 and then you’ll figure it out yourself why I would say that.”

But strangely, Evans, a former Irish Examiner National Junior Sports Star, wasn’t quaking in his boots when he discovered the identity of his first round opponent.

Instead he saw the pairing as a positive especially as Dan crashed out of the Athens Olympics at the opening stage.

Evans said: “He’s the best ever and playing him in the Olympics, in the first round I thought that it was the best time to get him, if I was at the top of my game.

“I did everything I could to be ready. I felt good but it just didn’t happen on the day. I think it’s just how it goes sometimes. My feeling was just bad on the court.”

Dan set the pace from the outset sending Evans scurrying around with a dazzling array of shots while he seemed to glide effortlessly around the court in comparison.

The game was watched by millions in China and the Irishman was disappointed that he couldn’t give them a greater show of defiance.

“I’m not very happy with it at all. I’m pretty disappointed. My preparation was unbelievable for this tournament. I did everything I could to be physically ready. When you come in and meet the best player in the world you need to be at the top of your game, you need to be clear in your mind and making good decisions and I didn’t do any of that.

“I went for the attack way too early. I was trying to push him around when I am under the net, putting the shuttle up into him and he was just waiting for it. My movement was also bad.”

But Evans wasn’t helped by some dubious line calls in the second game, which left him – and the crowd – frustrated. When asked for his thoughts he shrugged his shoulders and replied: “It’s pretty difficult for the line judge to see anything when she’s wearing sunglasses in the hall. But what can you do?”