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.

Lee Chong Wei, Lin's archrival in Olympic badminton [Xinhua]

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 August 17.

(Xinhua News Agency August 4, 2008)