Two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan suffered a shock defeat to Jonatan Christie of Indonesia in the first round of the Tahoe China Badminton Open in Fuzhou on Wednesday.
Seeded in number three, Lin lost 19-21, 16-21 to the 20-year-old world No. 17 Indonesian. Christie beat Lin at the Indonesia Open last year and lost another three games among their total of four previous encounters.
The 34-year-old veteran told Xinhua he played well in the first set but did not perform stably in the second.
"I did not grab the first set when I kept the lead 19-17 and perhaps that affected me and I was a bit frustrated," said Lin, who added "I made lots of mistakes in the second set while Christie played aggressively. That is the reason why I fell behind."
Christie said that both of them played at 100% in the first set but he did not expect Lin to make such mistakes during the second set, which was the turning point of the game.
"When I led in the second set 21-9, I felt Lin had nothing to lose and kept attacking and smashing to chase up seven straight points before my victory was sealed. He played faster in the second set, with too many hurrying attempts," said Christie.
"The key of my victory is the first set. When the scores went to 17-17, I fully attacked with all my strength and became more confident as the game went on. I really wanted to take chances and I tried my best with lots of attacks," Christie added.
The Indonesian said he was very proud to defeat the world No 4, but humbly said that he is not close to the level of mastery seen in shuttlers like Lin or Lee Chong Wei, who overwhelmed Hsu Jen Hao of Chinese Taipei 21-5, 21-7 in 26 minutes in the first round of the main draw.
"I want to be a great shuttler like those stars. Many young competitive shuttlers from China, Japan, South Korea also had good performances. So let's see what'll happen in the next five years," said Christie.
