Badminton: Lin and Hidayat want Olympic bragging rights

Badminton bad boys Lin Dan and Taufik Hidayat are playing for than just their countries at the Thomas Cup here this week -- they both want bragging rights going into the Beijing Olympics.

World number one Lin and Olympic champion Hidayat have a well documented history of public spats, each earning their reputation with a series of fiery outbursts.

With the Thomas Cup the last major tournament ahead of the Olympics, how the arch-rivals perform, and just as importantly behave, in the team championships will be closely scrutinised as an indication of what to expect in August.

Lin might be the world's best player but he is walking a fine line after he allegedly struck coach Ji Xinpeng in a temper tantrum during a training match in April.

It prompted a chorus of calls for him be punished with some fans demanding that the hot-headed star be dumped from China's Olympic team.

"The coaching team and chief officials have spoiled Lin. He should have been kicked out of the team earlier," the China Daily quoted one fan as saying following the controversy, as the Internet ran hot with criticism.

Lin denied striking Ji but subsequently apologised.

"Originally I thought this was a very minor matter. But then it was affecting the reputation of the badminton team so I apologised to the coach," he said.

The mercurial badminton genius was involved in a similar altercation with South Korea's Chinese head coach Li Mao in the Korean Open early this year.

In that incident, Lin rushed Li after a questionable line call and appeared poised to hit him with his racket before trainers and teammates intervened.

His tiffs with Hidayat are legendary and boiled over at the Asian Games in 2006 when the Indonesian superstar launched an astonishing attack on Lin, calling him arrogant and unfriendly.

Hidayat then beat him in the final, with Lin declining to attend the post-match news conference where he would have had to sit next to his nemesis.

The Chinese star began his Thomas Cup campaign with an early morning 21-6, 21-11 win over Nigeria's Greg Orobosa Okuonghea Sunday and escaped any needling from the crowd, but knows he needs to keep a lid on his emotions.

"It is always different and difficult playing in Indonesia," he said.

"The Indonesians are very passionate people when it comes to badminton, especially when playing at home. You have to control your emotions when playing in front of the Indonesian crowd."

While Lin continues to create waves with his behaviour as well as with his badminton, Hidayat claims he is a reformed character since having a baby last year.

Indonesia's biggest sports star insisted at a tournament in Hong Kong in December that his fiesty days were behind him.

"I'm more relaxed and I just think about my family now, not like before," said Hidayat, who plays here later Sunday.

"I was a bit terrible but now I'm more quiet. I just think about my family and about the baby."

Hidayat has provided some of the genteel sport's more shocking moments.

During the national championships in 2001, he charged into the stands and attacked a spectator. He was also accused of a carpark brawl during the 2004 Thomas Cup in Jakarta, and once threatened to play for Singapore in a row over coaching.

In 2002, he held up the Busan Asian Games final for two hours in protest at a line call, a performance he repeated in South Korea in August 2006, before his outburst at Lin at the Doha Asian Games.