Guangzhou Badminton: Youth Tournament Sees Rising Stars

[Badminton]Nearly 750 people participated in the provincial youth individual invitational tournament. Guangzhou’s little “Shi Yuqi” and little “Liang Wang” were covered in gold and silver.

From January 1 to 2, 2026, the 2026 YONEX Guangdong Youth Badminton Individual Invitational Tournament was held at the Zhuhai National Fitness Center. Nearly 750 young players from the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and surrounding areas competed for the singles and doubles championships in five age groups. Little “Shi Yuqi” Wang Yilang from Guangzhou No. 3 Middle School won the men’s singles championship in the 14-15 year old group, and the little “Liang Wang combination” Lin Ziyi/Liang Dajing won the runner-up in the men’s doubles group in the 16-17 year old group. This competition also attracted Li Poqiao, the 15-year women’s singles champion of the 2025 Hong Kong Youth Badminton Championships, and the men’s doubles team from Zhangzhou, Fujian. The format and arrangements of the competition also won praise from the team coaches and parents of the athletes.

Badminton has a strong mass base in Guangdong Province. During New Year’s Day alone, there are nearly 10 youth competitions across the province. The Guangdong Youth Badminton Individual Invitational Tournament held in Zhuhai is guided by the Guangdong Badminton Association, hosted by Yonex (Shanghai) Sporting Goods Co., Ltd., and co-organized by Zhuhai Gechuang Haifang Cultural Tourism Co., Ltd. It is not only open to teenagers across the province, but also welcomes teenagers from Hong Kong, Macao and surrounding provinces to participate. The competition has five age groups, including the under-9 group, the 10-11-year-old group, the 12-13-year-old group, the 14-15-year-old group, and the 16-17-year-old group. Each group has men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles and women’s doubles.

Yi Hantao, a physical education teacher at Guangzhou No. 3 Middle School, brought eight members of the school’s badminton team to compete during New Year’s Day. Wang Yilang is the main men’s singles player of the school’s junior high school team. This time he also showed his extraordinary strength in the competition and won the men’s singles championship in the 14-15 year old group. It turns out that Wang Yilang is known as the “Little Shi Yuqi” of the school. Yi Hantao introduced that he not only looks a bit like Shi Yuqi, the current world number one in the Chinese men’s singles team, but more importantly, his playing style is also somewhat similar to Shi Yuqi. “My idol is Shi Yuqi. My style of play is also a lob attack. I often watch Shi Yuqi’s game videos and hope to apply his skills and tactics to my game. I like him very much.” Wang Yilang told reporters that his ideal is to be a badminton player. This time the championship prize is a badminton racket. He especially hopes to have it, so he does his best to win the championship.

石宇奇和梁王
Teachers and students from Guangzhou No. 3 Middle School (from left: Liang Dajing, Lin Ziyi, Yi Hantao, Wang Yilang)

Lin Ziyi/Liang Dajing, who won the men’s doubles runner-up in the 16-17 age group, are the main players of the high school team. Yi Hantao introduced that Liang Dajing has strong offensive ability in the backcourt and imitates Liang Weikeng. Lin Ziyi takes the lead. They are responsible for organizing and grabbing the net. Their style is a bit like Wang Chang, so they are also the “Liang Wang combination” of the school team. “I hope they will target the Chinese team’s number one men’s doubles Liang Weikeng/Wang Chang.” Lin Ziyi. He told reporters that he often watches the game videos of the “Liang Wang Combination”, hoping to learn their playing methods and on-field organization methods. “The future direction is to strive to be in line with the ‘Liang Wang’. Although we may not reach their height, we will try our best.” Liang Dajing revealed that he is studying Liang Weikeng’s violent heavy kills with all his strength, “hoping to enrich his offensive methods.”

This invitational tournament adopted a 31-point single-game format. Lin Ziyi/Liang Dajing played 6 games in one day from the knockout rounds to the finals. They were hooked and enjoying it. Yi Hantao praised this competition system for training and enhancing the concentration of young players. The team members took advantage of the holidays to participate in the competition and were able to meet other outstanding players outside Guangzhou. Everyone learned from each other during the competition and improved their ability to adapt to different competition formats.

香港女单冠军
Li Poqiao

10-year-old Li Poqiao arrived in Zhuhai with her parents on New Year’s Day. After participating in the competition on the morning of the 2nd, she rushed to Shenzhen to participate in another event in the evening. She won the women’s singles championship in the 15-year group of the Hong Kong Youth Badminton Championships last year and hopes to gain experience by participating in more youth competitions held in Guangdong. Her idols include the Chinese women’s singles Olympic champion Chen Yufei. She hopes that she can be selected for the Hong Kong team in the future and compete for the world championship in the international arena. Although she failed to win the championship this time, Li Poqiao told reporters that she gained a lot from Zhuhai and saw the level and ability of many players of the same age. She also hopes to continue to participate in similar competitions held in the Greater Bay Area to learn from more opponents and challenge herself. Li Poqiao’s father, Li Weitang, is a badminton coach. This is not the first time he has taken his daughter to Guangdong to participate in youth competitions. After successfully registering, he has discovered that among the contestants in this competition are many well-known contestants of the same age group in Guangdong, and he is very happy that his daughter can have the opportunity to communicate with them. This competition is large in scale and organized in an orderly manner. Parents can also cheer and guide their children on the sidelines. I hope I will have the opportunity to participate in the future.

朱健文和儿子
Zhu Jianwen and his son Zhu Junxi

The reporter met Zhu Jianwen, a badminton teacher at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies at the competition site. He was taking his son Zhu Junxi to participate in the 10-11-year-old boys’ singles competition as a parent. “One of the very well-organized aspects of this competition is that there are viewing channels between the venues. Parents can watch the competition at close range, and can also guide and record videos. This is very important to us.” As a professional badminton coach, he found that the overall participation level of this competition is relatively high. “Because the badminton atmosphere in Guangdong is good, many teenagers are practicing very actively now.” He feels that the 31-point single-game system is very suitable for youth competitions, because there is a common problem of poor stability in this age group. There are many scores in a single game, which makes the participating teenagers highly concentrated. Coupled with the compact competition schedule, they can improve their concentration and stability during the game.

石宇奇
Zhuhai National Fitness Center is built and operated by Zhuhai Gree Group. It is a national fitness complex with the most sports projects in Guangdong Province and is also the first comprehensive gymnasium put into use in Zhuhai. According to Lei Minji, the head of operations of the center, this badminton invitational tournament is the first provincial event the center will welcome after entering 2026. “We have communicated with many participating people. Everyone comes not only for the competition, but also pays attention to the comprehensive experience of ‘event + tourism’. In the future, the center will continue to hold more popular sports events, so that participating people in Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macao and surrounding areas can watch, play and eat well.”