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China’s badminton ace Lin Dan will defend his title at the All-England badminton championships, which will begin in Birmingham from March 9-14, without his coach Tang Xianhu.
The 67-year-old coach, who was nicknamed The Thing as a player between 1961 and 1975 before turning to coaching in the early 80s, has returned to Fuzhou in Fujian province for rest due to an illness.
The coach even produced world-class men’s singles players like Xia Xuanze and Ji Xinpeng between 1999 and 2004. He came out of retirement in 2007 to coach and help Lin Dan win the gold medal in the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
Xianhu is expected to be out of the Chinese national team for a year and he has already come up with a training plan for his successor Li Zhifeng to help Lin Dan maintain his winning ways.
Although Lin Dan will be without his mentor for the All-England, which is his first international competition of the year, the three-time world champion said his training programme with his new coach had been going well.
“I have not seen coach Tang for a while as he has taken leave to have some rest in Fuzhou. He is getting older and needs to take some time to recover,” Lin Dan told sports.cn at his training base here on Tuesday.
“Every coach has his own approach towards the game. He (Zhifeng) will have to spend more time to understand me. As preparations for the London Olympics 2012 have just started, we still have time to adapt to the new partnership.”
Lin Dan skipped the season-opener Korean Open and Malaysian Open to focus on the centennial All-England, which he had won four times.
“The All-England this year will not be more special than the previous ones. There are many more major tournaments this year, including the Thomas Cup, World Championships and Asian Games, and the All-England is just part of our plan,” he said.
“I will just try to do my best. Based on the draw, I may have to play against my compatriots Bao Chunlai in the quarter-finals and Chen Jin in the semi-finals. So, I don’t have too much expectations.”
On arch-rival Lee Chong Wei’s determined bid to maintain his world number one ranking this season, Lin Dan said it would be an enviable achievement if Chong Wei could do that.
“He is certainly a very outstanding player in men’s singles. I think he is the best,” Lin Dan said.

THE Thomas Cup used to be one of the most prestigious tournaments and meant so much to Malaysian shuttlers and fans.
Preferences, however, have changed over the years, especially after badminton became an Olympic sport in 1992.
Any athlete will say that being an Olympic champion is the ultimate goal while the world championships also rank up there in terms of importance.
The Thomas Cup, however, remains a revered team competition and Malaysia have done extremely well by winning it five times and expectations rise to unexpected heights whenever it comes along.
This is exactly what will happen this year, especially as Malaysia is hosting the championships.
Having last won in 1992, Malaysians want the title again but lets face facts -- besides the reliable World No 1 Lee Chong Wei and the inconsistent doubles World No 1 Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong, Malaysia have a depleted side and even reaching the semi-finals would be considered a success.
On current form, Malaysia's line-up will be Chong Wei, Wong Choong Hann and Hafiz Hashim occupying the singles while Zakry Latif-Fairuzizuan Tazari will play second doubles behind Kien Keat-Boon Heong. Hafiz and Zakry-Fairuz are in wretched form and at 34, Choong Hann can only play a supporting role, and it is hard seeing Malaysia overcoming holders China for the title.
China will have Lin Dan, Chen Jin and Bao Chunlai in the singles and two-time world champions Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng and Xu Chen-Guo Zhendong in the doubles.
Even their reserves Chen Long (singles) and Zhang Nan-Chai Biao look solid as they can replace the regulars without much problems.
Chong Wei may capitalize on home ground advantage and upstage Lin Dan but none of the others have a chance of delivering.
In fact, even Indonesia and Denmark have better balance sides while South Korea, who are solid in doubles, could also make it tough for Malaysia.
All said, it will be a fine achievement if Malaysia make the semis while a final appearance would be a bonus.
And should they fail to do that, we mustn't consider it as the end of the world for the players can make amends by capturing a title in the World Championships in August.
Malaysian players have done better in individual events of late and having won the Thomas Cup before, they must target winning something that they haven't.
If they don't, then it would really mean the end of the world

The Indian Men took third place when they beat Japan in the Thomas Cup qualifiers, while the women shuttlers remained in the hunt for a place in the Uber Cup main draw despite losing the qualifying semis in Thailand on Saturday.
The men's team, which has already qualified for the finals of the Thomas Cup Championship in Malaysia, survived some tense moments on Saturday before beating Japan in the third place play-off.
Chetan Anand got the ball rolling in India’s favour  as he saw off Sho Sasaki 21-16, 23-21 in the first singles.
The experienced doubles pair of Sanave Thomas and Rupesh Kumar then made it 2-0 with a 21-19, 18-21, 21-15 victory over Hashimoto Hirokatsu and Hirata Noriyasu in the second match.
However, Yamada Kazushi beat Arvind Bhatt 21-15, 14-21, 21-7 in a 46-minute clash to reduce the margin.
Kazuno Kenta and Hayakawa Kenichi then joined the party and the duo eked out a 17-21, 21-16, 21-19 win over V Diju and Akshay Dewalkar to draw parity and bring Japan back into the tie.
The best of all the match came when Anup Sridhar showed his mettle and defeated Sato Shoji 21-7, 19-21, 24-22 to the delight of the Indian camp.
"It is an achievement to finish 3rd. It feels really special. We defeated Japan today and it shows that beating Thailand was no fluke and we deserve to be the number third team," Arvind said.
"Anup played brilliantly today, especially in the third game. The result could have been better if I had won my match but I twisted my ankle a bit so couldn't play properly," said the Bangalorean.
However, the women's team had a torrid time against formidable Indonesia as they lost 0-3 in the crucial semi-final tie on Saturday.
The eves will next take on Japan for a third place play off on Sunday and if the Indians win, they will be through to the main tournament.
Invincible till now, ace shuttler Saina Nehwal had a bad day in office as she couldn't get past world number 22 Adriyanti Firdasari and lost 16-21, 15-21 inside half an hour in the first singles.
Aparna Balan and Shruti Kurian also failed to overcome Polii Greysia and Maheswari Nitya Krishinda and lost 16-21, 15-21 in 29 minutes.
With India trailing 0-2, a lot depended on Friday's star Sayali Gokhale but the former national champion's gallant fight didn't count for much as she lost 22-24, 12-21 to Yulianti Maria Kristin to concede an unassailable 3-0 lead to Indonesia.
"We had a bad day today but we are confident of beating Japan tomorrow as we have already played against them. If we win we would be through to the Uber Cup finals," Saina said.
"But even if we lose we have a chance as right now we are 4500 points ahead of Netherlands, which is in the fourth place in Europe zone qualifier. So in case we lose, the points and March 3 rankings will be taken into consideration," she said.