Lin Dan powers into All-England quarters

 Lin Dan, twice an Olympic men's singles gold medallist, pulled the overdrive gear to escape from danger and accelerate into the quarter-finals of the All-England Open championships on Thursday.

The outcome was impressive as the legendary Chinese player utterly transformed his match against Sho Sasaki, the world number 20 from Japan, to win through 20-22, 21-6, 21-8.

Following the shock first round defeat of Lee Chong Wei, Lin's long-time rival, late the night before, there were some who felt that the 32-year-old might also be heading to the exit during his first game loss.

Instead Lin indicated for the first time how much his long winter training break may have helped him raise his standards nearer to the sublime best which earned him five All-England titles between 2004 and 2012.

He played at a higher speed, he sliced and disguised smashes into difficult areas, and he gave Sasaki far fewer opportunities at the net, where the Japanese player had done well.

Asked how today's Lin Dan compared with the one who won the Olympics in Beijing and London, he replied: "There are more and more challenges and to me it's just about training and getting the best out of myself. I'm pretty clear on the current circumstances and because everyone's fighting I'm just trying to perfect my own game."

But he declined to comment on the 33-year-old Lee Chong Wei's startling loss, saying: "I don't know why everyone keeps asking me about that."

Lin thought however that the other 33-year-old, Sasaki, had played really well and that he himself had taken a long time to adapt and recover from the first game loss.

Others thought Lin had actually done that with remarkable speed. He produced one sumptuous overhead drop and kill to get to 5-2 in the second game, another superbly disguised overhead drop to reach 13-5, and levelled at one game all with a perfectly punched clear which landed just inside the baseline.

Sasaki declined to chase that down, and increasingly it became evident that, for all his skills and experience, he would not be able to halt the flood of brilliance which was overwhelming him. Well as he played in the first part of the match, this will be his last year on tour, Sasaki said.

He was still skilful enough to cause Lin to dive fruitlessly along the floor to try to retrieve in the third game, but by then he was 6-17 down.

Lin left behind an impression that, despite the cold conditions which require him to take even longer in preparation for his matches, he is probably ready for Friday's potentially difficult quarter-final meeting with Jan Jorgensen, the third-seeded Dane.

Jorgensen also looked in good shape as he prevailed 21-13, 21-16 against Ng Ka Long, the world number 16 from Hong Kong. Another to reach the quarter-finals was Tian Houwei, the eighth-seeded Chinese player, who for the second day recovered from a game down.

Tian just sneaked through against Indonesian qualifier Sameer Verma 10-21, 21-12, 21-19 and next meets either Kenta Momota, the fourth-seeded Super Series finals winner from Japan, or India's Kidambi Srikkanth.

Source: AFP