Super Dan returns, but will he be rusty?

Lin Dan of China, who last played at the London Olympics, is pictured here after winning Gold in his Men’s Singles clash against Chong Wei Lee of Malaysia on August 5, 2012. (Getty Images)

It’s unusual that the reigning World and Olympic champion should be ranked No.40, but Lin Dan never follows the script.

Having won everything there was to be won, including two Olympic gold medals, the undisputed champion of this era took a prolonged break after the London Olympics in August. Having chosen not to play any tournament, his ranking slid to No.40 from No.2 – and it will be interesting to see his state of preparedness when he returns to competitive action at the Badminton Asia Championships beginning Tuesday.

Lin Dan’s name has been pencilled in, along with compatriots Chen Long, Wang Zhengming, Du Pengyu and Gao Huan. Unlike the Superseries, which has a draw of 32, the Asian Championships are considered more difficult to win, as it has a draw of 64. Lin Dan takes on Tuan Duc Do of Vietnam; a victory will see him play third seed Hu Yun (Hong Kong) or Pisit Poodchalat (Thailand). In any case, the pressure will be off him, for everyone would expect him to be slightly rusty after a sabbatical of over seven months.

There will be one notable absentee though – Lee Chong Wei. The Malaysian has been playing badminton non-stop and might have wanted some rest, besides of course trying to recoup mentally from the two defeats he’s suffered to Chinese players over the last month or so – Chen Long at the All England, and youngster Tian Houwei at the Australian Open.

In the absence of Chong Wei, Chen Long is top seeded, with compatriot Du Pengyu No.2. The Chinese are likely to turn up in full strength, and will apparently brook little resistance, since all their biggest opponents of this era are missing. With Chen Long appearing nearly unbeatable in recent times, he is overwhelming favourite for the title. He should be able to breeze through to the semi-finals without dropping a game.

At the opposite end is compatriot Du Pengyu, who has been plugging away earnestly over the last two years without much luck. Ranked No.3 now, Du reached a number of finals in 2012, including the Asian Championships last year, but he couldn’t quite win a major title. If he can turn around his luck early in 2013, he will be a potent No.2 weapon behind Chen Long.

Perhaps the only ones capable of causing an upset or two would be P Kashyap of India and Wong Wing Ki of Hong Kong. Kashyap, the fourth seed, takes on Hong Ji Hoon of Korea in the first round; the second will be against Niluka Karunaratne (Sri Lanka) or Chou Chu Han (Taipei). The Indian is capable of making the semi-finals.

The other Indians in the draw are Sai Praneeth and Sourabh Verma. Praneeth plays Ajfan Rasheed of Maldives first before a likely encounter with sixth seed Wang Zhengming of China in the second. Verma has a more difficult start lined up, against 12^th seed Takuma Ueda (Japan).