Lin Dan no longer an obstacle in Chong Wei's quest for Olympic gold

World badminton icon, Lin Dan is no longer an obstacle in national ace Datuk Lee Chong Wei's quest for his first gold medal at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The confidence was expressed by Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) deputy president Datuk Seri Norza Zakaria after Chong Wei succeeded in beating his nemesis at the China Open and Asia Badminton, both in China, this year.

Norza said the world's number one player on the other hand should be more careful of much younger players such as Viktor Axelsen and Jan O Jorgensen.

"For me, Chong Wei needs to boost his mental and physical preparedness more to face off against these new faces. Lin Dan is no longer a huge challenge for Chong Wei.

"His chance of reaping the gold medal is rather high if compared to the Beijing and London Olympic Games," he said when contacted by Bernama, here, Friday.

Commenting on Chong Wei's preparation, Norza said, in terms of fitness and mental condition, he believed the 33-year-old player was ready since returning to action after his doping issue, last year.

For the record, Chong Wei took one year to return to the highest ranking in the world when in June last year he started at the 180th ranking.

Chong Wei, emerged runner-up in two previous Olympic Games, and second seed is twice world champion Chen Long while two-time Olympics champion, Lin Dan is placed as third seed.

Other seeds in the men's singles event are Danish player Viktor Axelsen (4) and Jan Jorgensen (5), Chinese Taipei player Tien Chen (6), Indonesian player Tommy Sugiarto (7), South Korean player Son Wan Ho (8), Indian player Kidambi Srikanth (9), Kong Kong player Hu Yun (10), German player Marc Zwiebler (12) and

England player Rajiv Ouseph (13).

The first balloting of the badminton event at the Rio Olympic Games would be officially held on Tuesday.