In July 2020, Lin Dan ended his 20-year career as a national player, and his fifth Olympic campaign came to nothing. A year ago, Lee Chong Wei also announced his retirement due to illness with tears, and the Lin and Lee era in badminton was announced to be over. , leaving endless sorrow.
Subsequently, Kento Momota emerged and dominated the men’s singles in the badminton world, and his winning rate was astonishingly high, and his data even surpassed it, which is quite eye-catching. People can't help but ask, if Momota Kento had not been suspended, would Lin Li's era have ended earlier?
Undoubtedly, our definition of the end of the Lin and Lee era is based on the time when Lin Dan retires. But if Kento Momota ends the era of Lin and Lee ahead of schedule, it should shake the dominance of the two in the badminton world.
If Lee Chong Wei and Lin Dan win the badminton championship and runner-up as the standard, their era has long passed. Because in the three years of 14, 15, and 16, the champion of the World Championships and the Olympic Games was Chen Long .
Momota Kento was second in the world before the competition, but Chen Long ranked first. It can be said that the era of pure Lin and Li has indeed ended at this time, replaced by the era of the three giants of Lin, Li and Chen.
To say that Momota Kento's strength was more than enough to be a spoiler back then, but if he wanted to win the Olympic championship and runner-up in 2016, or even dominate the world badminton world, this would be impossible.
If you think that Lin Li's era means that Lin Li has always been at the world's first-class level, then as they get older, it is impossible for the two people to remain at the peak of their status and will always fall out of the first-class level group. This is the same as Momota Kento 's suspension and rise have nothing to do with it.
In comparison, Momota was certainly capable, but at that time he was not strong enough to stabilize Lin Li.
First of all, let’s talk about Lin Dan. Lin Dan is considered by everyone to be an invincible player. It seems that he only started to decline two years before his retirement. But in fact, before the 2016 Olympics, Lin Dan had declined sharply. In fact, the expectations of the coaching staff They were all placed on Chen Long. When he went to Rio, Chen Long had an independent residence, but Lin Dan had to live in the athletes' dormitory.
How could a hot-tempered Alchemist endure such treatment? Holding back all the energy, I broke out in the Olympics and reached the semi-finals against Lee Chong Wei. Although they lost in the final, the duel between the two was still quite exciting. Assuming that
can reach the finals, although it should not gain much advantage against Chen Long, it can still improve its status after all. However, after losing, the third and fourth players have no intention to compete and give away the bronze medal.
If it were Momota back then and Lin Dan at this time, I think there might be a certain threat, but he might not be able to win, at least not like he did in 18 and 19. In 2017, Lin Dan's strength began to decline and he fell out of the top ten. This was not the end of Momota Kento, but a problem of Lin Dan's age.
Let’s talk about Lee Chong Wei. Before his retirement, Malaysian Open 2-0 took away the championship won by Momota. Therefore, Lee Chong Wei’s problem should be illness. Lee Chong Wei's own style of play is quite inferior to Kento Momota.
Kento Momota’s skills are related to competition, especially the ball in front of the net, which must have gone through hard training, so he felt very good when he came back. Later, after more games, his feel was not as good as before.
On the other hand, if Momota Kento was not suspended in the early stage, he might have lowered his self-confidence by playing against Lin Li too much, which would not be a good thing.
Therefore, the Lin Li era will not end prematurely because Momota is not suspended. It is even possible that if there is no suspension, Momota Kento will not have the achievements of the previous two years.
