So what if he's no longer World No.1 in badminton.

Lin Dan is still the greatest badminton player of all time with a record of victory unlikely to be surpassed. And the ongoing Thomas Cup in New Delhi from May 18 to 25 will likely see Super Dan lead a superstar Chinese team seize a record sixth consecutive Thomas Cup.

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The semi-retired Super Dan enters the Thomas Cup, or the World Men's Team Championship, as the spiritual head of a Chinese team that is the overwhelming favorite to again win the title.

China is also the heavy favorite to take home the Uber Cup for women, which also takes place simultaneously with the Thomas Cup.

The 30-year-old Lin, a left-hander, has won five world, two Olympic and five all-England titles. He is also the first and only player to achieve badminton's "Super Grand Slam," winning all nine major titles: the Olympic Games, World Championships, World Cup, Thomas Cup, Sudirman Cup, Super Series Masters Finals, All England Open, Asian Games and Asian Championships.

Super Dan early this year returned from an eight month lay-off to win the China Masters and Asian titles in April. Despite these wins, he was ranked No. 58 in the world as of May 15. Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei is the current World No. 1.

In this year's Thomas Cup, Lin has been entered as China's fourth-ranked singles player behind Chen Long, Du Pengyu and Tian Houwei.

China is gunning for its tenth Thomas Cup title and will battle Taiwan, Russia and France in Group D. Indonesia, Japan and Denmark are expected to be China's main challengers.

China is tied with Indonesia as holders of five straight Thomas Cup championships. Only China, Indonesia and Malaysia have won the Thomas Cup since the world championship was introduced in 1948. There have been 27 Thomas Cup competitions in that time span.