STORY TO BE TOLD

Lin Dan upset after his marriage registration photos leaked on Internet
By CHOW HOW BAN

BEIJING: Photos of badminton star Lin Dan and long-time girlfriend Xie Xingfang registering their marriage surfaced on the Internet yesterday.

The Olympic and Asiad champion, who had not responded to mounting rumours of his marriage with the former Chinese national women’s singles player, was put on the spot by the leak of the photos.

The photos showed that Lin Dan and Xingfang signed the marriage documents at the Haizhu district marriage registration centre in Guangzhou on Monday.

The southern Chinese city is the hometown of Xingfang.

Local media reports said that Lin Dan did not return together with his team-mates to their training base in Beijing on Monday from Hong Kong where they competed in the season-ending Super Series tournament but went for his marriage registration instead.

When approached by reporters at the training grounds, Lin Dan was apparently upset over the exposure of the photos.

After his training, he made a phone call and told the press that he and Xingfang would not comment on their marriage for the time being.

“I just feel that our marriage registration is a personal matter and we did not want to announce it early.

“It is not the right time to do so,” Lin Dan was quoted by qq.com as saying.

Last week, local media reported that Lin Dan and Xingfang would tie the knot soon.

They quoted Lin Dan’s mother as saying that he had submitted his application for marriage to the Liberation Army.

Lin Dan is a soldier and it is compulsory for an officer to apply for marriage.

More news on: http://thestar.com.my/sports/

Credits to and source taken from: http://thestar.com.my/sports/

Lin Dan hints at getting married before 2012 Olympics

BEIJING: Chinese badminton superstar Lin Dan says his preparations for the 2012 London Olympics will not delay his plans to marry former world champion Xie Xingfang.

Lin Dan, viewed by many as the best badminton player ever, last month secured a long-coveted gold medal at the Asian Games to go with his world and Olympic titles.

His sporting legacy secured, the 27-year-old Lin Dan says he is ready to focus on other things, raising the possibility of a marriage before the London Summer Games.

“I have sacrificed so much to play badminton at the expense of my family, girlfriend and friends. Now, I feel my family and friends are just as important as the sport,” Lin Dan told the China Daily in comments published yesterday.

“I won’t postpone the marriage simply because of the London Olympics. I have experienced a lot and I know how to do everything,” he said.

“I am considering getting married before the London Games and I am making efforts towards that.”

Lin Dan’s romance with Xingfang, a silver medallist at the Beijing Olympics, has been an intense media topic in China with millions of adoring fans eager to know the couple’s every move.

Only last month, Lin Dan said he was too young to wed and that marriage “is not on my agenda”.

Lin Dan skipped this month’s China Open in Shanghai due to fatigue, after defeating Malaysia’s world No. 1 Lee Chong Wei for the title at the Asiad in Guangzhou. But he is competing this week at the Hong Kong Open. — AFP

More news on: http://thestar.com.my/

Credits to and source taken from: http://thestar.com.my/