Austrian shuttler David Obernosterer said that it is an honor to play against China's multi-world and Olympic champion Lin Dan in the first badminton match at the Rio Olympic Games.
The Austrian will meet Super Dan, as Lin's fans call him, in the men's singles opening match on Aug. 11 and the 27-year-old expressed his excitement about his Olympic debut.
"I think nothing better could happen in my first Olympics than playing the two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan. This is what I trained many years for. I want to play with the best guys in this sport, learn from them and try to challenge them as well," he said after Tuesday's training session at Riocentro Pavillion 4.
Known as the "Royal Couple" back home, Obernosterer and his girlfriend Elisabeth Baldauf are the only two badminton players representing Austria, thus the Tuesday training was between them.
It's not easy to train for both of them, yet Obernosterer felt optimistic as over the next few days he is expected to have a lot of sparring with other guys from other countries and regions.
Baldauf also felt quite excited about her first match as she got to play against Tai Tzu Ying from Chinese Taipei.
"I am very excited about the match because I do not have much opportunity to play against the world class players so it's great to be here against the No.8 seed. I think I will have to play 120% if I am going to have a chance," she said.
