LONDON, Aug 5: China claimed an unprecedented sweep of all five Olympic badminton gold medals on Sunday after Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng won the men’s doubles at the London Games shortly after Lin Dan had defeated Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei to win the men’s singles title.

Lin Dan became the first man to retain the badminton singles title after winning 15-21, 21-10, 21-19 to repeat his victory over Chong Wei in the Beijing Games final.

When Chong Wei’s final shot landed long, Lin sprinted around Wembley Arena until he was tackled by his coaches.

He didn’t rip off his shirt as he did in Beijing, but he threw it into the crowd and saluted them.

“My mind is blank right now. I am very, very happy,” a joyous Lin told reporters.

“This medal is confirmation of all my hard work since 2008.

“It is very tough being a Chinese player because we work so hard and sacrifice so much.”

Badminton has been rocked by a match-throwing scandal that saw eight players disqualified from the London Games but Lin said he hoped his epic final against the Malaysian would show the sport in a good light.

“I really hope badminton isn’t affected by the disqualifications in this tournament.

“This medal is a confirmation of the sport. I hope that my performance and Lee’s performance today is evidence of that,” he said.

Cai and Fu then beat third-seeded Danes Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen 21-16, 21-15, atoning for their disappointment at losing the 2008 Olympic final.

China missed out on a sweep in their Beijing Games when Cai and Fu lost their final, but they became the first Chinese pair to win the doubles gold on Sunday.—Agencies