(Beijing, October 14) The men's singles final of the 2007 International Badminton Invitational Tournament concluded this evening, with world No. 1 Lin Dan outplaying No. 2 Bao Chunlai 2-0 (21-19, 21-14) to clinch the title. Bao took the silver medal, while the bronze medal went to Nguyen Tien Minh of Vietnam. It happens to be Lin Dan's birthday today, and the gold medal came as a lovely birthday present.

With rich experience gained through major world tournaments over the years, both Lin Dan and Bao Chunlai fought hard to vie for the upper hand over the other. After 5-5, Lin succeeded in launching powerful attacks and turned the score to 10-5, 14-9 and 18-10.

Never giving up, Bao managed to narrow the gap to one point. However, Lin went on to score two more points to secure the game with 21-19.

Lin continued to give full play to his superb skills in the second game and forced Bao into a passive position on many occasions. At 2-9, Bao stood the pressure and caught up with six points in a row. Unfortunately, Bao committed errors in attacking which enabled Lin to lead 17-11. Despite the fact that he scored three more points, Bao never had the chance to turn the table. The game ended with 21-14 in favor of Lin Dan, who took the gold medal as the best present for his 24th birthday.

After the gold-medal match Yang Shu'an, Vice-President of the Chinese Olympic Committee and Executive Vice-President of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG), and Tang Xiaoquan, also BOCOG Executive Vice-President, presented medals to the top three players. As Nguyen Tien Minh of Vietnam had left for home somebody else received the bronze medal on behalf of him.