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There was no surprise to poor performance of Koo Kien Kat and Tan Boon Heong in the 2011 Super Series Finals.  The hectic coaching rotation and little tension with their old coach brought some upsets and waves to their training calendar.  Yet, the expectation of this fifth world ranking pair was semi finals, which we all know it was not happening.

However, the expectation for Datuk Lee Chong Wei is not semi finals or even finalist.  He has to win and proofs himself to be the best in 2011.  Yet, his destiny is not within reach.  Chinese badminton hopeful, Chen Long, shockingly stopped  world No. 1 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia in the semifinals of the BWF World Superseries Finals 21-16, 16-21, 21-18. 

The 22-year-old Chen Long is obviously in the form of his life at the moment.  He controlled the tempo of the match and almost made no mistakes on the court. His victory and his recent sound performance sent a message to the world that he has indeed broken the Lee Chong Wei-Lin Dan stranglehold and he should now be the player to watch.

Every successful man fails at some time, even "Grand Slam" winner Lin was stunned by an unheralded player in his opener at the Athens Olympic Games, Chen is definitely not excluded.

In his maiden worlds journey this August, he suffered an unbelievable loss in the first round to Kevin Cordon from the Central American republic of Guatemala.

However, failure tells you about your weaknesses, shortcomings and lack of preparations. "It's my first world championships. After this I have the chance to get more experience."

Just like what Chen said, the failure in the worlds is not an end, but a start.

After the worlds, Chen made a strong comeback, winning China Masters, Japan Open and Denmark Open in a row to join an elite bunch of shuttlers who win three consecutive BWF World Superseries crowns. The world No. 3 has also outshone four-time world champion Lin, who has only back-to-back Superseries titles.

A down-to-earth Chen kept clam after the win in Denmark. "This is just a normal tournament, I do my best in each match."

Chen did what he said afterwards by entering the semifinals of all the tournaments he participated, including the on-going Finals.

In the season-ending event which is open to the top eight shuttlers in the world, Chen joined the group A along with Lin, former Olympic champion Hidayat Taufik of Indonesia and Japan's Tago Kenichi.

Chen stretched Lin in the opening match to three sets before losing the close match 21-15, 19-21, 21-17, but he was too good to Taufik and Kenichi, winning the next two matches to enter the last four.

In Saturday's semifinals, Chen proved once again his capability by defeating Lee for the third time in 2011. Lee highly commended Chen's performance, saying Chen was the second biggest opponent of him besides Lin.

Talking about his tips in such a miraculous comeback, Chen said, "it's nothing special, I just try to be more active on the court and be more patient when lagging behind. I'm still young and my physical condition is good."

The dust is finally settled.  The China favorite double pair is out of this tournament after a shocking lost to South Korean pair Ko Sung-Hyun and Yeon-Seong in straight set 20-22 16-20.  Chinese hopes in the men's doubles now rest on Chai Biao and Guo Zhendong, who qualified second in Group A.

Datuk Lee Chong Wei came through a tight match 24-22, 21-14 against Danish veteran Peter Gade, while "Super Dan" made short work of Japan's Kenichi Tago 21-11, 21-13.  Crucially, both players topped their groups after the three round-robin games, meaning they will avoid each other in Saturday's semi-finals. World number one Lee, who has won all three editions of badminton's season finale, will face Chinese second seed Chen Long, while Lin is up against long-time foe Gade.

Second seeded in BWF ranking, Lin Dan, crushed Tago in just 42 minutes to stand just two matches from badminton's first "Super Grand Slam" by winning all nine of the sport's premier titles.

Yet, the unfortunate Indonesian Taufik Hidayat, the 2004 Olympic gold-medallist, crashed 21-13, 21-7 from China's Chen Long.  Hopefully, Taufik's slamming performance will not continue to the Olympics.

Women's top seed Wang Yihan of China knocked out Germany's Juliane Schenk in three games to finish top of Group A. She was joined in the semi-finals by Danish player Tine Baun, who beat South Korea's Sung Ji-Hyun.

China's Wang Xin topped Group B despite a surprise loss to India's Saina Nehwal, who shrugged off some indifferent form with a 21-17, 22-20 win to book her place in the last four.

Hot Chinese favorites Wang Xiaoli and Yang Yu looked odds-on for the women's doubles crown after they swept into the semi-finals with three wins at the top of Group A.

Lin Dan is undoubtedly one of badminton’s greatest ever players. He has won 13 World Superseries titles since the series took off in 2007, winning only one title in 2010 as well as in the 2011 season so far. 

Though the Chinese ace does have four world titles and the gold medals from the 2008 Olympics and 2010 Asian Games among his vast collection of winner’s trophies, but he has pulled up injured once again last weekend, citing a toe injury just as he was on the verge of beating Japan’s Kenichi Tago in the Yonex French Open men’s singles semi-finals.

This was the sixth time the former world number 1, who has since slipped to third behind Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei and teammate Chen Long in the world rankings, has failed to finish a tournament in ten months.

While Chong Wei, on the other hand, has been displaying incredible finesse having bagged six 2011 World Superseries titles. The Malaysian has been playing an average of 16 international tournaments in a calendar year since 2007, and will be competing in at least 17 international tournaments in 2011 should he follow through his 2011 World Superseries schedule. 

Lin Dan, who plays an average of 10 tournaments a year, is currently also on schedule to compete in the remaining two World Superseries. And the Chinese will therefore still stand a chance to close in on the World Superseries titles gap between the two "maestros" of the men's singles event.

But it will be a huge drawback for any tournament and a major disappointment for fans to witness one of the sport's most extraordinary talent continue his recent spiral. As disappointed as many are of Lin Dan's current spiral, science would stand up to the realities of the human biological condition in professional sport, and the immortalisation of professional athletes who have become inevitable subjects of entertainment in this modern age of the sport.

This could be Lin Dan's dilemma. How is his outlook in the 2012, Olympics & beyond?

Chen Long will have the perfect opportunity to join an elite group of shuttlers to win three consecutive Superseries titles when he plays in the US$400,000 Yonex Denmark Open Superseries Premier this week.

The Chinese ace took the last two OSIM BWF World Superseries tournaments in China and Japan and will be hoping to join 10 other players who have won three consecutive crowns in the elite badminton series.

Zheng Bo-Gao Ling were the first players to claim a hattrick when they won the mixed doubles title in the Malaysia, Korea and All England Opens in 2007. They then repeat the feat in the same year by winning the Indonesia Open, China Masters and Japan Open.

Four-time world champions Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng also made it three-in-a-row in 2007 when they stormed to the Singapore and Indonesia Opens as well as the China Masters.

A year later, Indonesia’s Sony Dwi Kuncoro became the first non-Chinese player to win three Superseries crowns when he triumphed in the Indonesia Open, China Masters and Japan Open.

Later that year, South Korea’s Jung Jae Sung-Lee Yong Dae, won the last two tournaments of the season in China and Hong Kong and followed that up by winning the 2009 Malaysia Open.

Zheng Bo was back to his familiar tricks when he partnered Ma Jin to the mixed doubles gold medals at the 2009 Switzerland, Singapore and Indonesia Opens.

Jae Sung-Yong Dae were back on form at the end of the season, successfully defending their Hong Kong and China Opens crowns before winning the season opening Korea Open in 2010.

That season also belonged to Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei who won the first three events of 2010, taking the top prize at the Korea, Malaysia and All England Opens.

China’s Yu Yang also claimed three titles in the women’s doubles that year, albeit, with different partners. She won the Malaysia and All England crowns with Du Jing, before partnering Tian Qing to top spot at the Swiss Open.

Standing in Chen Long’s way are the usual suspects, world No. 1 Lee Chong Wei, whom the Chinese ace is scheduled to meet in the final, if he gets past four-time world champion Lin Dan in the semi-finals.

Chen Long, however, is on a high after beating both players in Japan and will be looking to reassert his authority on badminton’s world order.

Over at the women’s singles China’s three Wangs – Wang Yihan, Wang Shixian and Wang Xin – will once again start as favourites with Europeans Tine Baun of Denmark and Juliane Schenk of Germany, along with India’s Saina Nehwal looking to play the role of spoilers.

With all the world’s top players in action in both the singles and doubles competitions, expect plenty of fireworks and perhaps even some fairy tale endings in the birthplace of master storyteller Hans Christian Andersen.