PETALING JAYA: Top seed Viktor Axelsen of Denmark was bundled out of the All-England in Birmingham on Wednesday (March 12).
The two-time Olympic Games champion had come in as favourite after winning his first German Open title two weeks ago but he could not contain a spirited Lin Chun-yi of Taiwan, who fought brilliantly to pull off a stunning 21-19, 13-21, 21-11 win in 54 minutes in the first round.
Axelsen, who has won the All-England twice before, was devastated.
“My body didn’t really allow me to play good badminton today,” said Axelsen during the Badminton World Federation (BWF) post interview.
“Full credit to my opponent. I need to figure out what to do. The last couple of months I’ve been trying to see what I can do.
“I have no excuses – I lost to a better opponent.
“I got a little bit tense when my body was feeling bad, and that affected my entire game. But no excuses. To be honest, there’s a longer break awaiting me after this tournament.”
