Special report: 2008 Olympic Games

    by sportswriter Chen Jian

    BEIJING, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- Top two seeds in badminton men's singles for Beijing Olympics, Lin Dan from China and Lee Chong Wei from Malaysia, are set to caution their way toward the final through a dangerous minefield.

    According to the badminton schedule released by the World Badminton Federation on Saturday, Top seed in men's singles Lin Dan will meet Ng Wei from Hong Kong on August 11, while No.2 seed Lee Chong Wei on the same day will face the challenge of Ronald Susilo from Singapore, who had surprisingly upsetted Super Dan in his first match at Athens Olympics.

    Susilo, the "giant killer" currently ranked No.32, also downed the 26-year-old Malaysian in the second round of last year's Swiss Open when Lee was at a low ebb.

    "Chong Wei should treat his first match against Susilo like a final," warned Malaysian national badminton singles coach Misbun Sidek, who considered the Indonesia-born Singaporean a great fighter, as he had survived two career-threatening injuries.

    In the third round, Lin Dan is set to meet his "bogeyman", Park Sung Hwan from South Korea, who achieved the best head-to-head record against the world No.1 among all other men's singles shuttlers.

    It won't be easy for aging Peter Gade from Denmark to stop Lin Dan in the quarterfinals in top half. On the contrary, Sony Dwi Kuncoro from Indonesia could be the highest hurdle for Lee to conquer.

    The Olympic bronze medalist enjoyed a comfortable advantage over Lee by a 4-2 margin from six head-to-head meetings. He also delivered a third-round defeat to the Malaysian in Kuala Lumpur in the 2007 World Championships.

    If the Indonesian cannot stop Lee, No.3 seed Bao Chunlai, who has reversed his head-to-head record against Lee in favor of the Chinese hopeful, would try to dash the gold medal hope of Malaysia at Olympics semi-finals.

    Lee Chong Wei handed Bao six straight defeats before the 2006 World Championships. However, Bao tendered a sweet revenge against Lee by securing four wins in their six meetings after the Madrid Championships.

    Once No.7 seed Hidayat Taufik from Indonesia could fully recover from his recent fever, he might duplicate the victory in Athens where the unseeded genius pocketed the gold medal and ruin a much-anticipated encounter of the top two seeds.

    Seated in the top half by the draw, the Indonesian "bad boy" could be a nightmare to Lin Dan, his long-time rival, as he boasted a couple of wins over the Chinese "bad boy" at some important occasions, such as the 2005 World Championships and 2006 Asian Games.

    If both Lin and Lee survive the minefield, an exciting gold medal showdown will be staged at the Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium on Aug. 17.