First in 54 years to retain All England

When Lee Chong Wei walked out to the court as the MC of All England Badminton Championship was introducing him and his opponent in a WWF-manner, he smiled broadly with such a high confidence, slowly walking towards the main court, gesturing his fans along the way, and my wife, who accompanied me for a mid-night live telecast, was surprised with the exceptional confidence shown by our champion.

Unlike his former encounters with Lin Dan in which, Lin Dan was always the one who was more confident while Chong Wei more tensed up, this time around, Chong Wei was more relaxed and composed, you could see that from his gesture to a stadium-packed Malaysian supporters at Birmingham, and that sort of confidence was surely a good indication, both of us were thinking, and it was indeed, as Chong Wei lived up to the expectation as the World No 1, beating Lin Dan in a pulsating final 21-17, 21-17.

Chong Wei began with an explosive start in both games; he played more aggressively while Lin Dan, unlike his usual self, was more subdued and defensive. Both games were very tight from the beginning as the players exchanged points in a highly charged up final match; the point-exchanges were so tight that I wondered whether my heart could take it. After seeing our double players failed in the third game after such a good lead 11-6, I certainly didn’t want to go to the bed with another disappointment.

But it was Chong Wei who played so brilliantly and managed to tame his nemesis and retain his All England trophy. His excellent effort should suffice to silence the critics, me included, that he is unable to beat Lin Dan in major tournaments. More importantly, Chong Wei has shown his capability to beat any of the world best players outside our own shore without any home ground advantage and that is not something that could be undermined by any parties.

Chong Wei is making history to be the first Malaysian to retain All England back-to-back and he did it a well worthy manner defeating Lin Dan and I guess for all his fans, particularly for all those who packed up Birmingham Indoor Stadium with kompang and Malaysian flags, and chanting Malaysia Boleh ever louder, Chong Wei had repaid their unwavering supports with such a memorable victory.