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Yes, Lee Chong Wei finally wins over Lin Dan.  However, it is not on the badminton court, but in the fan's hearts.  The contest was held by BWF to find 2011 badminton player of the year contest.

The top four highest votes for the male and female Player of the Year fan vote campaign are as follows:

2011 BWF Male Player of the Year

Lee Chong Wei – 34% of votes
Lin Dan – 22% of votes
Cai Yun/Fu Haifeng – 16% of votes
Lee Yong-dae/Jung Jae-sung – 14% of votes

2011 BWF Female Player of the Year

Liliyana Natsir – 78% of votes
Wang Xiaoli/Yu Yang – 6% of votes
Wang Shixian – 5% of votes
Wang Yihan – 4% of votes

Fans appeal and the role model quality of a player are of growing importance in the criteria of the BWF Player of the Year award. 

The decision of the 2011 Male and Female Players of the Year Awards will be taken at the BWF Council Meeting currently taking place in Queenstown, New Zealand.  The voting results will potentially influence the decision of the awards especially if it goes down to a tight two-horse race, your vote can make a difference!

The winners of the two prestigious awards will be announced at the Li Ning BWF World Superseries Finals in Liuzhou, China, next week and the winners will receive the awards over an Awards presentation ceremony at the event.

The top Malaysian pair is no longer in the top four of the world rankings.  In fact, they never won against Korean, Ko Sung-hyun-Yoo Yeon-seong, in any super series events.  Does Malaysia have a second tier pair to back up this declining star?

Their waning status may be seen as a reflection of a taxing year for the Malaysian badminton aside from sudden disappointing results of Chong Wei.

As few would give them much hope of emerging champions in Liuzhou, Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) coaching and training committee chairman Ng Chin Chai stressed that the pair needed strong support to check the slide.

“They are no longer among the world’s top four pairs. They did not earn the right to be seeded for the Super Series Masters Finals after their ups and downs this year,” said Chin Chai.

“But I want Koo and Tan to take this as a challenge and prove that the seedings are not a true reflection of a player’s status.

“I hope they will do better than the seeded pairs.”

In yesterday’s seedings released by the Badminton World Federation (BWF), four pairs are rated higher than former World No. 1 Kien Keat-Boon Heong – China’s Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng, South Koreans Lee Yong-dae-Jung Jae-sung, Denmark’s Mathias Boe-Carsten Mogensen and another Korean pair, Ko Sung-hyun-Yoo Yeon-seong.

The four seeded pairs will be divided into two groups. A draw on Dec 13 will determine Kien Keat-Boon Heong’s placing in the group.

As only the top two pairs will advance to the semi-finals, Kien Keat-Boon Heong will have to upstage at least one top combination to reach the top-four elimination round.

“We are giving Koo and Tan much support. They need it – especially now when they are trying to get back to the top.

“They must also play their part and be honest about their efforts to turn their game around.”

Despite the many challenges, Chin Chai said they were positive about rebuilding the pair’s confidence as they target a medal at next year’s London Olympics. Kien Keat-Boon Heong, however, did show some spunk despite losing for the sixth time to Sung-hyun-Yeon-seong in the China Open quarter-finals last week.

With all the doubles coaches – Tan Kim Her, Pang Cheh Chang and Yoo Yong-sung – working together, it won’t be too long before Kien Keat-Boon Heong end their long wait for a major title.

Their last major success was the 2010 Malaysian Open crown, though they deserve credit for reaching the finals of the World Championships (2010 in Paris), Asian Games in Guangzhou (2010) and the All-England (2011).

In the men’s singles, World No. 1 and top seed Lee Chong Wei’s bid to win the crown for the fourth time will be seriously challenged by two seeded players – Lin Dan and Chen Long of China.

The 29-year-old Chong Wei has lost twice to both Chen Long and Lin Dan in the last three months but if the Malaysian puts his mind to it, he may reconfirm his status as the king of the Super Series.

It was designed to revenge his defeat last week in 2011 Hong Kong Open.  Yet, it is another losing record for Chong Wei. 

The world number one player could not maintain his performance after he captured the first set, 21-19.  Lin Dan played calm and deceptive to end Chong Wei's hope 21-12 and 21-11.  This is the second time for Chong Wei to miss the final stage of international badminton event this year and his back to back lost to same player in the same month.

On the other end, Chen Long easily wins his match of Simon Santoso (Indonesia) in straight set 21-14 21-14. Chen Long is aiming for his forth super-series title this year, while his final opponent, Lin Dan has two titles.  Neither can catch Chong Wei, who has a season leading five Superseries tournament victories from wins in the Malaysia Open, All England, India Open, Indonesia Open and French Open, but at stake is second spot in the OSIM BWF World Superseries rankings.  In the world ranking, Chen Long is currently second with 71,980 points, 1,690 points ahead of Lin Dan. Chong Wei is far ahead with 82,520 points.

Chong Wei reserved his seventh title of the year and 39th of his career today by winning 2011 French Open. Chong Wei denied Japan’s Kenichi Tago with a devastating 21-16, 21-11 victory in 39 minutes.

It was his eighth victory over Tago from as many matches and the second time Chong Wei has defeated the Japanese ace in a Superseries final, the first coming in last year’s All England tournament in Birmingham.

It was also belated birthday present for the Malaysian, who turned 29 on Oct 21. His victory in Paris means he has now won an incredible 20 Superseries titles from 48 such tournaments since 2007.

Chong Wei won three Superseries titles in 2007, twice more in 2008, four times in 2009, six in 2010 and so far in 2011, he has won in Malaysia, England, India, Indonesia and France, with two more OSIM BWF World Superseries events next month in Hong Kong and China.

His other two titles in 2011 came at the BWF Super Series Finals 2010 which was played in January and the Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold in May. He also won his National Grand Prix title for the 10th consecutive time last month.

On Sunday, Tago tried to match Chong Wei’s aggression but found it difficult to crack his opponent’s defense. He managed to stay in the game until 12-12, only for Chong Wei to up the pace and win nine of the next 13 points.

Tago was the aggressor once again in the second game and took a 5-3 lead when once again, the world No. 1 found several extra gears in his arsenal to zoom ahead, winning 14 of the next 15 points, including nine straight unanswered winners to take a 17-6 lead.

Chong Wei then eased off the gas, allowing Tago to win another five points before he wrapped up the match.

It was the peak of the 2011 French Open.  Many people still could not believe the number one player in the world could lost so easy to second tier player, Chen Long from China.  The tragic was even more convincing in which Chen Long beat Lee Chong Wei in straight set last week in 2011 Denmark Open.  This evening the fierce battle began again between this two ultimate show down.  However, this time Lee Chong Wei showed his supremacy by winning the match with the score of 23-21 17-21 21-15.

On the other court, another exciting match was also happening between Kenichi Tago (Japan) and Lin Dan (China). Lin Dan was leading Japan’s Kenichi Tago 25-23, 18-15 when he injured himself, thus handing an unexpected final appearance to the former All England finalist

This is the fifth time in the past 10 months that the reigning Olympic and Asian Games gold medalist has had to concede a walkover or retire hurt in OSIM BWF World Super Series tournaments.

Lin Dan’s run of bad luck began last December when he withdrew from the quarter-finals of the Hong Kong and China Opens just before playing Vietnam’s Nguyen Tien Minh and Chen Long respectively.

Then in January, he pulled out of the Proton Malaysia Open Super Series with an abdominal muscle injury when he was due to play Chen Long.

The biggest blow came in the final of the Singapore in June when he had to hand the title to teammate Chen Jin as he felt ill after drinking too much cold water after his semi-final victory over Peter Gade.

Last month, at the Japan Open, the skin of his left foot came off after a tough match against Chen Jin and Lin Dan had to give a walkover to Chen Long in the semi-finals.

Meanwhile, China will keep the women’s singles and doubles title after dominating the semi-finals of both events.

In the women’s singles, world No. 3 Wang Xin, who is chasing back-to-back Super Series titles, came back from an opening game loss to defeat Thailand’s Porntip Buranaprasertsuk.

Porntip, who won her country’s first ever women’s singles Superseries title when she won the India Open in May, stunned her Chinese opponent with a 21-15 victory in the opening game.

However, that win took a lot out of Porntip and she was a spent force as Wang Xin cruised to the next two games, winning 21-4, 21-7 to book her ticket to the final.

Waiting for her in Sunday’s title decider is Li Xuerui, who ousted giantkiller Tai Tzu Ying in straight games. Tzu Ying, who defeated world No. 1 and world champion Wang Yihan in the quarter-finals, had no answer to Li Xuerui’s attacking play and fell 21-8, 21-19.

Her victory meant China will win the women’s singles title for the ninth time in 10 OSIM BWF World Superseries tournaments this year. The only time they missed out was at the India Open which they didn’t enter.

Likewise, Chinese women have won the doubles crown eight times out of the nine previous Superseries tournaments and on Saturday, world champions Wang Xiaoli-Yu Yang and Tian Qing-Zhao Yunlei made sure the crown will stay in Chinese hands when they won their respective semi-final matches.

Wang Xiaoli-Yu Yang, survived a wobble in the second game before beating Japanese third seeds Mizuki Fujii-Reika Kakiiwa 21-8, 22-20. Tian Qing-Zhao Yunlei, meanwhile, received a walkover from South Korea’s Ha Jung Eun-Kim Min Jung.

Last month, the concentration was on the men double squads.  Koo & Tan were prioritized to pump their mediocre performance.  Shifting and hiring new coaches were in horizon.  Yet, the results in Denmark Open 2011 was not reflecting the efforts.  In fact, they lost to secondary pair from South Korea, Gun Woo Cho & Ti Goo Kwon in 3 sets.

Now, it is the most unpredictable and embarrassing outcome.  Chen Long convincingly stopped Chong Wei back to back.  Even worst in Denmark Open 2011, Chen Long showed his superiority by winning the match in straight set.  Chen Long is just 22 while Chong Wei is 29 and despite the latter's superior skills and experience, Chong Wei will have to admit that he struggles against younger opponents.  Chen Long is physically stronger and has also learned well from compatriot Lin Dan on how to neutralize Chong Wei and thorough preparation is needed if he is to sink China's top players.

It didn't help that the BA of Malaysia (BAM) staged the National Grand Prix Finals on Oct 12-15 where Chong Wei secured a 10th national title but had to leave for Denmark that very night. He played his first match on Oct 19.

It is arguable that the field in the local event is too weak and Chong Wei had a stroll but he was also going through his training while the rest just competed in the GP Finals.

BAM's decision to stage the Kedah Open just 10 days before Chong Wei and the other national shuttlers traveled to Bath, England for a one-week training stint before the World Championships in London also left a lot to be desired. 

Chong Wei aggravated his back injury in Kedah and only resumed training two weeks later and, not surprisingly, he fell short in the World Championships final against Lin Dan.

National singles coach Tey Seu Bock had said that Chong Wei wasn't comfortable playing Chen Long who outplays his opponents through sheer physical strength rather than skill.

"Chong Wei is not comfortable playing Chen Long because he is physically very tough and a good retriever. His recovery is very good and manages to battle with Chong Wei rally after rally," said Seu Bock in a telephone interview from Odense yesterday.

"The best way to beat him (Chen Long) is to be well prepared and I would say he (Chong Wei) did not have much time after the Japan Open.

"The situation now is juggling between Olympic qualification and quality training. At the moment, he needs to collect Olympic points and at the end of the year, we have to put him through a longer period of quality training."

The coach added: "Chong Wei is an excellent shuttler but sometimes we forget that he is already 29 and it might take longer to recover from tough matches compared to players like Chen Long.

"Chen Long had a tough second round but received a walkover from Jan Jorgensen (of Denmark) and this was followed by an easy semi-final win, so he was fresh in the final."

Chong Wei will probably get about four weeks to prepare for the Korea Open (Jan 3-8) and Malaysia Open (Jan 10-15) and about six weeks before the All England in March. The break will be important for his build-up towards the Olympics.

Chong Wei should limit his tournaments after the All England and spend sufficient time on his Olympics preparation. 

There will be another opportunity for Chong Wei to avenge his defeat in the French Open where he is likely to play Chen Long in the last four in Paris on Saturday but the Malaysian must be prepared if his young rival has the upper hand again.

It is better to lose the battle but win the war against China in the London Olympics next year.

As for men's doubles Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong, only time will tell if they can be transformed into a formidable pair again by new coach Pang Cheh Chang.

The bonus, however, will be on Kien Keat-Boon Heong who must play with confidence and work harder to regain their form.

All in, China will have a representative in each of the five finals with the women’s singles and doubles being all-Chinese affairs.

Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei (men’s singles), Denmark’s Joachim Fischer Nielsen-Christinna Pedersen (mixed doubles) and South Korea’s Jung Jae Sung-Lee Yong Dae (men’s doubles) are the only players to break China’s stranglehold in the fourth OSIM BWF World Superseries Premier tournament of the year.

Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng, who have yet to drop a game in this tournament, took on defending champions and third seeds Mathias Boe-Carsten Mogensen in their semi-final encounter.

Having won three of the last four OSIM BWF World Superseries tournaments and finishing runners-up in the other, the Chinese duo were in confident mood against the All England champions. They dominated for long spells before cruising to a 21-13, 21-18 victory in 41 minutes.

Jae Sung-Yong Dae, survived a scare in their semi-final match-up against Olympic and Asian Games champions Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan.

After taking the first game 21-11 on the back of eight straight points, the South Koreans suddenly found themselves under pressure as Markis-Hendra switched to a more attacking play.

The ploy worked to perfection as they drew level with a 21-17 win to set-up a tense rubber game. The decider could have gone either way with the pairs keeping close to each other before Jae Sung-Yong Dae edged it 21-19.

In the women’s doubles, second seeds Tian Qing-Zhao Yunlei were too good for Denmark’s Line Damkjaer Kruse-Marie Roepke, taking just 30 minutes to trounce the Europeans 21-12-21-5.

World No. 1s Wang Xiaoli-Yu Yang were given a slight scare by South Korea’s Ha Jung Eun-Kim Min Jung, dropping their first game of the tournament, but eventually winning in three.

After breezing through their opening three matches where they only dropped 59 points, the Chinese superstars looked to be on the way to another comfortable victory when they won the first game 21-8.

Jung Eun-Min Jung, however, had other ideas and switched to a more attacking more to level the match at 21-14. In the decider, Wang Xiaoli-Yu Yang held their nerves to seal their place in the final with a 21-16 win.