Badminton: 'No sign Lin faked illness'

SINGAPORE: Badminton officials said world number two Lin Dan was unlikely to face further action after he controversially pulled out of the Singapore Open final citing illness, angering suspicious fans. The Badminton World Federation (BWF) said there was no evidence he faked the bout of gastric flu which prompted his withdrawal from the men's singles decider against Chinese teammate Chen Jin. Fans booed loudly as this action followed a string of similar incidents involving all-Chinese matches. "I won't like to comment on the past trend but for this, the tournament doctor's confirmed that he's ill and I think we can't do anything more than accept that," said BWF spokesman S Selvam.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 21^st, 2011.