Third time unlucky for Chong
Published on: Sunday, August 21, 2016
Kota Kinabalu: World number one Lee Chong Wei (pic) failed to turn silver to gold as he lost in two sets 18-21,18-21 to China's Chen Long in the final of the Olympic badminton event on Saturday.In his swansong appearance, the 33-year-old was unable to break down his much younger opponent in a tight and entertaining game with some high quality skills displayed by both players throughout.With the expectation of the whole national on his shoulder, Chong Wei who won the toss to serve, quickly went 4-0 down before he recovered his composure to draw level with one service and took a 5-4 lead.ADVERTISEMENT From then it was tooth and nail between the world number one and two players. It wasn't until 16-all that Chen Long finally surged ahead to take a two-point lead with Chong Wei making some uncharacteristic mistakes at the net.He was allowed two more points before the two-time All England champion wrapped up the first set.The second set saw Chong Wei took the first point but again it was Chen Long who looked more dangerous and he got four straight points from his service to take a 4-1 lead. As was in the opening set, Chong Wei started to turn on the screw and retook the lead.ADVERTISEMENT Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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He even led 8-5 at one stage but then Chen Long was not ready to let the match going into rubber as he matched his 33-year-old opponents in every departments and coupled with his willingness to use his powerful smashes that saw him putting pressure on Chong Wei to make errors in crucial stages. Chong Wei tried in desperation when he was 16-20 down to take two more points but ultimately he smashed the shuttle out in Chen Long third match point attempts to settle for his third silver in the competition following his second placing in the Beijing and London Games.