Lin, who also beat Lee in last year's London Olympic final, recovered from losing the opening game to win 16-21, 21-13, 20-17 after his opponent retired with cramp when on the brink of defeat.

Although Lee not Lin was the number one seed, the final ultimately panned out along expected lines, yet this was certainly not the case in the women's final when Thailand's 18-year-old prodigy Ratchanok Inthanon became the youngest ever winner when she defeated Chinese hope Li Xuerui in three tight games.

Elsewhere, there was a second Chinese title in the women's doubles courtesy of Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang but the other two doubles titles were each won by pairings from Indonesia.

China's Lin Dan celebrates after a record fifth World Badminton Championship title


There were no prizes for guessing which victory went down best for the home crowd as Lin recovered from an error strewn opening game to emphatically turn the tide by taking a 12-1 lead at the beginning of the second set and never looking back thereafter.

After a period of absence due to injury and recuperation following his Olympic victory, Lin qualified for the Championships courtesy only of a wildcard and he consequently becomes the first ever wildcard entrant to win the gold medal.

Unsurprisingly, he was delighted with his victory if not with the manner of his opponents retirement.

"Both Chong Wei and I did a good job and it's a pity he could not last until the end," Lin said.

"He got this cramp out there and it reminded me of my training - when you have that, you cannot move at all.

"From that moment we were not opponents any more - I really wanted to help and went over to ask if he was okay but he didn't want to give up."

Ratchanok Inthanon of Thailand  is emotional following her shock win in the women singles






In the women's singles Ratchanok has long been seen as the next big sensation in the sport after she won a record three world junior titles following a first victory aged just 14, but her opponent Li was the heavy favourite after winning the London 2012 Olympic title and being ranked number one in the world.

However, after a tight opening two games were shared it was the teenager who emerged the stronger to take a 6-1 lead in the decider and eventually prevail 22-20, 18-21, 21-14.

"Being the champion has been my dream," said Ratchanok.

"At the end of the match all the tough moments from all the years came into my mind and I thought, 'finally, I got it."

The men's doubles was another event to produce a shock when Indonesia's sixth seeds Muhammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan defeated the Danish pairing of Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen in straight sets after the four time defending champions from China and the number one seeds from South Korea had each crashed out in the semi-finals.

Muhammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan celebrate after winning the men's doubles gold medal for Indonesia


Indonesia's second win came in the mixed doubles courtesy of Tontowi Ahmad and Lilyana Natsir as they defeated the Chinese number one seeds Xu Chen and Ma Jin 22-20 in a thrilling final set.

The host nation made amends in the women's doubles where Wang and Yu overcame their South Korea opponents Eom Hye-won and Jang Ye-na in the decider.

Almost 350 players from 49 different countries participated in the week long tournament with eight countries winning medals and China somewhat predictably finishing top of the pile with eight podium positions including their two titles.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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