Top seed Chong Wei scrapes into badminton last 16

Beats Ville Lang of Finland 21-8, 14-21, 21-11 in 51 tense minutes

I / London July 31, 2012, 13:49 IST

Top-seeded Lee Chong Wei returned from a 10-week injury break to scrape into the Olympic badminton last 16 and send a wave of relief through Malaysia late Monday.

His country's greatest hope for a first Olympic gold medal, Chong Wei beat Ville Lang of Finland 21-8, 14-21, 21-11 in 51 tense minutes.

Chong Wei tore right ankle ligaments at the Thomas Cup in late May and he and his advisers feared the Beijing silver medalist wouldn't be fit in time for London. But the draw allowed him two extra days to finish off an intense rehabilitation, and he looked like he needed it in an understandably rusty performance.

Meanwhile, his archrival and the defending champion, Lin Dan of China, eased through his opener against Scott Evans of Ireland 21-8, 21-14. Lin's leading countrywomen, world champion Wang Yihan and No. 2-seeded Wang Xin, were equally unruffled.

The only upsets were inflicted on the No. 8 seeds in both draws. Kenichi Tago, the only Japanese man to reach the All England Open final in the last 45 years, lost to Niluka Karunaratne of Sri Lanka 21-18, 21-16 and Sung Ji-hyun of South Korea lost to Yip Pui Yin of Hong Kong 21-18, 23-21 just a day after her 22nd birthday.

"I don't feel so happy anymore," Sung said.

Chong Wei didn't look so good, either, after he ruined a bright start and played with less conviction and more errors in the second game. Lang won it 21-14, the first time he'd won more than 11 points in a game off Chong Wei.

Chong Wei won a morale-boosting 50-stroke rally for 2-2 in the deciding game, and as Lang began to pile up errors, Chong Wei accelerated from 11-11 by winning the last 10 points, finishing with a cross-court smash that Lang didn't even twitch for.