The media appeared in awe of the badminton skills of China's Lin Dan on Wednesday, which is the first day of the All England Open world championship in Birmingham, U.K.
While Malaysian badminton superstar and fierce rival Lee Chong Wei continues to be sidelined due to a failed November doping test, Lin will need to overpower compatriot badminton champion Chen Long, who is the current world number one.
Of particular significance to the Shanghai Daily was Lin's fifth world championship in 2013, when he beat Chen in the quarterfinals and Lee in a grand final encounter.
On that occasion, Lin had only one tournament behind him for the entire year. Following his championship victory, he was not seen on the world badminton stage for a further eight months, but still managed to prevail in the China Masters and the Asia Championships in the following week; Lin did not lose a single game at the Masters event.
While Lee sees through his competition ban, Chen has played his way into the global top ranking, winning the World Superseries Finals in December. I
n support of the media's praise for Lin, the current world champion has never emerged victorious from a match against him, as Chen's record against Lin is six losses and zero wins.
The Reuters news agency noted that another All England victory for the 31-year-old, who is presently ranked number six, would place him in the same league as former champions Frank Devlin and Rudy Hartono.
However, while Lin will be intently focused on his performance on the courts of Birmingham's National Indoor Arena, where he has not played since he won the All England title for the fifth time three years ago, one of his foremost priorities is the attainment of a third successive Olympic gold medal at Rio 2015.