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World champion dreams of returning to the top
Wang Lin knows it will be next to impossible to qualify for next year’s Olympics, but that has not stopped her from dreaming of booking an improbable ticket to London.
The world champion, who is on the comeback trail after six months out with a knee injury, is currently ranked No. 74 in the world.
She made a good start towards qualifying for the London Olympics when she reached the main draw of the YONEX SUNRISE Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold tournament in Alor Star on Tuesday. In her first tournament back since her knee injury, Wang Lin reached the semi-finals of last month’s Australian Open Grand Prix Gold tournament.
The 22-year-old has nine compatriots ahead of her in the world rankings and with each country allowed a maximum of three shuttlers if they are ranked inside the top four, Wang Lin knows she has to start winning tournaments fast to close the gap or she can kiss her Olympic dreams goodbye.
At the moment, the top three shuttlers in the world – Wang Shixian, Wang Yihan and Wang Xin – are all Chinese. Other compatriots ahead of her in the pecking order are Jiang Yanjiao, Liu Xin, Li Xuerui, Lu Lan, Zhou Hui and Zhu Lin.
“There are still eight more OSIM BWF World Superseries tournaments left in the year and I have to win a couple of them to stand a chance of edging one of my compatriots out of the Olympic berth,” said Wang Lin, who survived a scare on Tuesday when Malaysia’s Tee Jing Yi stretched her to three games.
“This (YONEX SUNRISE Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold) is only my second tournament since coming back from injury. I reached the semi-finals in Australia last month and I hope to do even better here, especially since it is the start of the Olympic qualifying campaign.”
Wang Lin defeated Lydia Cheah 21-13, 21-15 in the first qualifying round before being taken the distance by another Jin Yi.
“I lose a bit of concentrate in the second game and could not play my usual pace. After Jing Yin had taken a big lead, I decided to take it easy and conserve energy for the deciding game,” added Wang Lin, who eventually won 21-11, 16-21, 21-13.
“Two years ago, Wang Shixian and Wang Xin were not famous but they contested the YONEX SUNRISE Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold final and are now ranked inside the top three in the world.
“Hopefully, I can follow in their footsteps and even if I can make it to London, I hope to earn a ticket to the 2012 World Championships.
CREDITS TO BADZINE | 
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Post time 5-5-2011 02:21 PM
