Lin Dan stamps his class in front of the home fans

IT was only his first match but fourtime world champion Lin Dan knew exactly what to do to win the hearts of his adoring fans.

He stamped his class and showmanship by coming back from a six point deficit, to beat Rajiv Ouseph and lead China to a 5-0 win over England on Sunday.

Ouseph was leading 10-4, when Lin Dan turned on the power to level the score and win the first game at 21-14 and the second at 21-10.

The home fans cheered loudly over the win but Lin Dan stayed modest.

“I broke the string of my racquet after taking a 4-0 lead and it took such a long time to get back to attacking mode again and I amjust happy that I caught up,” said the Olympic champ.

“Rajiv is a good player as he had beaten Peter (Gade Christensen) before. I know how important it is for me to win and inspire the team.”

On China’s Group A tie against Indonesia today, Lin Dan remained humble.

“Indonesia are one of the strongest team in the Thomas Cup Finals but we will treat every team with respect,” he said. ”It does not matter whether Indonesia field Simon (Santoso) or Taufik (Hidayat) as the first singles, I will be ready.”

Indonesia may drop Simon as the first singles and field Taufik, Tommy Sugiarto and Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka in the singles line-up as it would give their younger players a good chance to see where they stand against China’s top stars.

It will be interesting in the doubles as Indonesia will bank on the young pair Mohd Ahsan-bona Septano to upset Cai Yun-fu Haifeng and may rely on old hands Markis Kido-hendra Setiawan or Markis-alven Yulianto to upstage China’s younger pair of Guo Zhengdong-xu Chen in the second doubles.