The Chinese tennis player Chen Yufei – Photo: BWF
The new season of the BWF (World Badminton Federation) has been underway for almost a month, with three major tournaments in the Super 500 group and above, but Chinese players have only managed to win one singles title so far.
That was the women’s singles title of the Indonesia Masters, a Super 500 tournament held on the afternoon of January 25. Former world number one Chen Yufei defeated 19-year-old Pitchamon Opatniputh (Thailand) with a score of 23-21, 21-13 in the final.
This is not an achievement to be proud of, as strong female players such as An Se Young and Yamaguchi did not participate in the Indonesia Masters.
Chen Yufei will face Pitchamon in the final, who is currently ranked 36th in the world and is still very inexperienced.
Chen Yufei’s victory was not enough to save a disappointing tournament for the Indonesian players. They failed to win any of the events in the men’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles or mixed doubles.
A week earlier, the India Open, a Super 750 tournament, took place. China’s hopes of winning the men’s singles title quickly faded when world number one Shi Yuqi withdrew due to injury.
In women’s singles, China dreams of breaking the dominance of An Se Young, the world number one from South Korea. They have sent three very strong players to this tournament: Wang Zhiyi (number 2 in the world), Chen Yufei (number 4 in the world) and Han Yue (number 5 in the world).
Wang Zhiyi made it to the finals, but as usual, she quickly lost to An Se Young.
Wang has faced An Se Young in the finals eleven times in her career and lost ten times. Before the India Open, Wang was also defeated by the South Korean player in the final of the Malaysia Open – the first Super 1000 tournament of the year.
In men’s singles, Chinese players have completely disappointed since the beginning of 2026. At the Malaysia Open, Shi Yuqi – the world number 1 – lost to Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the final.
At the India Open, China did not even manage to send a single player to the quarter-finals after Shi Yuqi’s withdrawal.
This disaster scenario was repeated at the Indonesia Masters, where no Chinese player in men’s singles reached the second round. And compared to the two previous major tournaments, China performed even worse in doubles in Indonesia.
Three consecutive Super 1000, Super 750 and Super 500 tournaments took place in three weeks, kicking off a vibrant year of top-level badminton competition. It’s hard to believe that China only managed to win one title out of a possible fifteen.
Bron: https://tuoitre.vn/sau-bong-da-trung-quoc-nhan-them-tin-buon-o-mot-mon-the-thao-quan-trong-20260125122804293.htm
