Chen stuns Lin at All England for maiden title

    BEIJING, March 10 -- Defending champion Lin Dan slumped to a shock defeat in the final of the All England Open in Birmingham yesterday, beaten 20-22, 23-25 by fourth seeded Chinese compatriot Chen Jin.

    China won another title when defending champions Zheng Bo and Gao Ling rallied to see off Indonesia's Nova Widianto and Liliyana Natsir 18-21, 21-14, 21-9 in the mixed doubles final.

    But China then suffered a setback when third-seeded Lu Lan was stunned 11-21, 21-18, 20-22 by Tine Rasmussen of Denmark in the women's singles final.

    Lu had earlier beaten seventh seeded Xu Huaiwen of Germany 21-13, 21-14 in the semifinal while Rasmussen, who beat China's world champion Zhu Lin earlier in the week, accounted for South Korea's Hwang Hye-youn 21-17 21-18.

    Lin, winner in 2004, 2006 and 2007, had enjoyed a relatively trouble-free passage to his fifth All England final in succession but was hampered by a knee injury yesterday.

    He told a media conference after the surprise reverse: "It's an old injury which flared up this morning.

    "I thought about pulling out in the second game but I did not want to disappoint the crowd. It stopped me smashing properly."

    Chen went into the match with a 0-6 record against the world champion but looked hungry and his task was made easier by some uncharacteristic errors from Lin.

    The titleholder, who was wearing a knee strap, led 18-16 in the first game but Chen fought back to take the advantage and generally controlled the second game.

    Lin managed to level at 20-20, saving three match points before leading 23-22.

    However, Chen saved the game point against him and took the next two points to land his first All England title.