Original title: Chinese badminton team: aiming for Paris and going all out for gold
【Looking at the Paris Olympics】
On April 12, 2023, the biennial Sudirman Cup kicked off in Suzhou, Jiangsu. It is also the first stop of the 2024 Paris Olympics badminton event. Since then, Chinese badminton players have embarked on the journey to Paris. Frankly speaking, neither the players nor the fans knew how the battle would evolve in the coming year, and how many people would be able to reach Paris.
Participating in the Olympics is the dream of every athlete. In preparation, they must defeat their opponents and themselves.
In April 2024, at the Ningbo Badminton Asian Championships, the men’s doubles combination Liu Yuchen/Ou Xuanyi secured the eighth place in the Olympic points, making the Chinese team the only badminton team with a full quota to participate in the Paris Olympics.
Since badminton became an official event in the Olympic Games in 1992, in the past 32 years, only the Chinese team has qualified for the full quota. Among them, at the 2012 London Olympics, the Chinese team won five gold medals in one fell swoop, creating a miracle in the Olympic badminton arena.
According to the latest Olympic points rankings announced by the World Badminton Federation, the top two players (pairs) of the Chinese team in the five individual events are as follows: men’s singles are Shi Yuqi and Li Shifeng; women’s singles are Chen Yufei and He Bingjiao; men’s doubles They are Liang Weikeng/Wang Chang, Liu Yuchen/Ou Xuanyi; women’s doubles are Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan, Liu Shengshu/Tan Ning; mixed doubles are Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong, Feng Yanzhe/Huang Dongping.
Shortly after the list was finalized, at the 2024 Thomas Cup and Uber Cup held in Chengdu, the Chinese badminton team won the 11th Thomas Cup and 16th Uber Cup in team history. At the Paris Olympics I handed in a satisfactory answer sheet in the last major exam before. Zhang Jun, chairman of the Chinese Badminton Association, said that regaining the Thomas and Uber Cup will have a positive effect on the momentum and fighting spirit of the national badminton team, and the whole team will be more confident to achieve another good result in Paris. Regarding the goal of the trip to Paris, Zhang Jun’s low-key voice contained confidence: “The international badminton situation is complex and there are strong competitors in each event, but the goal of the Chinese badminton team is still to strive for five gold medals.”
Can the Chinese badminton team win five gold medals again?
In men’s singles, Shi Yuqi, currently ranked second in the world, finally got out of the four-year trough at the end of 2023. In just half a year, he defeated Tokyo Olympic champion Axelsen consecutively and won the World Open Championship multiple times. In the just-concluded Thomas Cup, he played as the first singles player of the Chinese team, winning six games in a row without losing a single game. According to statistics, Shi Yuqi played 28 games this year, with a winning rate of 89.3%, making him the men’s singles player with the best record in the world badminton this year.
Another men’s singles player with high hopes, Li Shifeng, shined at the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games. As the Olympics approached, his condition fluctuated. Recovering as soon as possible the level he achieved when he won the double championship at last year’s Asian Games will be the key for Li Shifeng to make a difference in Paris.
In the Chengdu Uber Cup, China’s No. 1 singles player Chen Yufei won all four matches without losing a single game, which is gratifying, but she did not play directly against An Se-young (South Korea), Yamaguchi Akane (Japan) and Tai Tzu-ying (Chinese Taipei), and the Spanish star Marin was not present in the Uber Cup. If Chen Yufei wants to defend her title in Paris, her real opponents are precisely these four.
Chen Yufei’s main opponent is also her teammate He Bingjiao’s opponent. He Bingjiao plays a connecting role in the team, especially in the Chengdu Uber Cup final. Facing a player she had never played against before, He Bingjiao made a tenacious comeback after losing the first game, and her psychological quality has been greatly improved.
In men’s doubles, the Chinese team Liang Weikeng/Wang Chang and Liu Yuchen/Ou Xuanyi are ranked first and eighth in the world respectively. The former pair is participating in the Olympics for the first time, while Liu Yuchen of the latter pair regrets winning the silver medal in the Tokyo Olympics three years ago. The competition in men’s doubles is the most intense, and the level gap between the top ten in the world is only a few millimeters. It all depends on who performs better during the game. “I believe these two pairs will show more stable performances in the Olympics.” Zhang Jun expressed his trust in them.
In women’s doubles, the favorite “Fanchen” combination (Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan) has been ranked No. 1 in the world for a long time. Their sophisticated playing style and “big heart” are the key to winning the game. Winning another Olympic gold medal is their only goal. . Chen Qingchen once said bluntly: “The battle for Paris is inevitable.”
Another women’s doubles pair, Liu Shengshu/Tan Ning, also performed well in the Asian Championships, Uber Cup and other competitions. It would be the best result if they could meet “Fan Chen” in the Olympic finals.
In Mixed Doubles, the Chinese team’s Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong and Feng Yanzhe/Huang Dongping rank among the top two in the world. Their tacit cooperation and tactical changes will make this event an important gold medal for the Chinese team.
It is undeniable that the Chinese badminton team has the world’s top players in five individual events. However, in addition to the absolute advantages of women’s doubles and mixed doubles, competitors in the other three projects will bring greater challenges. (Reporter Wang Dong)
(Editors: Yuan Hanling, Luo Yu)
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2024-05-23 02:22:38
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