Olympic and three-time world champion Lin Dan finally added the Asian Games trophy, the only glory eluding him, to his collection when he outplayed world number one Lee Chong Wei in a breath-taking badminton final here on Sunday.

Lin, 27, roared with both fists high in the air after he fought to the 21-13, 15-21, 21-10 victory while his girlfriend and former teammate Xie Xingfang cheered for him in the stands.

The win made up what Lin lost in Doha Games four years ago when he fell to Indonesian Olympic and world champion Taufik Hidayat in the men's final.

This also marks a flawless career for the armyman who is already the most crowned Chinese singles player, with glories from all the top world competitions including the Beijing Olympic Games, three world championships, two World Cups, three Surdiman Cups and four Thomas Cups.

The first set embarked an extremely tense final where both players pushed their pace, strength and technique to the limits.

Lin was off to a 4-1 lead and carefully kept his advantage over Lee until an accurate smash hit the corner gave Lin a 14-9 lead and he start to pull away from there.

But Lin knew that his rival would not give him an easy night as he was forced to make more mistakes in the second set. He smashed into the net and then hit too long to fall behind 4-6 where Lee held the lead through.

A determined Lin refused to let his chance slip away as he jumped to a 11-1 lead in the decisive set and never looked back.

In the mixed doubles final earlier, Shin Baekcheol/Lee Hyojung overcame Zhang Nan/Zhao Yunlei of China 21-19, 21-14 to bring South Korea the only badminton gold medal at these Asian Games.

Lee, 29, had never won a final at the Asian Games besides her one silver and five bronze medals. She eventually fulfilled her dream with youngster Shin, 21 instead of her Beijing Olympic Games winning partner Lee Yongdae. Lee Yongdae won a bronze medal in the men's doubles with Chung Jaesung here.

"Winning the gold medal means a lot to me. I can't even express how happy I am," said Lee, whose win reinforced South Korea's dominance in the mixed doubles at the Asian Games with six wins and no other team has more than two.

(Xinhua News Agency November 22, 2010)