China secured a comprehensive 2-0 team victory over South Africa at the 2026 World Junior Badminton Mixed Team Championships group stage, sweeping both matches under the tournament’s newly instituted relay scoring format.
Relay Format Dominance Secures Opening Win Over South Africa
The Chinese youth national team controlled every fixture across the opening match, cruising to a 55-20 victory in the first set. Under the tournament rules, each team tie consists of five disciplines—men’s singles, women’s singles, women’s doubles, men’s doubles, and mixed doubles—with each individual match section worth 11 points toward a maximum 55-point team total per set.
Hong Tianyue opened the men’s singles by defeating Breydel 11-4. Zhang Yixin followed in the women’s singles with an 11-2 victory against Chloe Lai, establishing an aggressive rhythm that overwhelmed the opposition. In women’s doubles, Tu Yichen and Li Menghhan weathered a resilient challenge from Vegario and Pretorius to secure an 11-8 win. Shi Sichen and Xiang Yujin added an 11-2 victory in men’s doubles over Emily Lee and Niyayesh, before Tu Yichen and Zheng Weigang closed out the first set by defeating Dedenham and Tonde 11-4.
Second-Set Rotation Maintains Unstoppable Momentum
China maintained its offensive output during the second set, utilizing squad rotation to secure a 55-16 win and seal the 2-0 match sweep.
Hong Tianyue returned for the second-set men’s singles, surrendering just a single point in an 11-1 rout of Dedenham. Liu Siya then held off a determined challenge from Emily Lee to take the women’s singles 11-7. Tu Yichen and Li Menghhan combined once more for an 11-4 women’s doubles win against Vegario and Chloe Lai, while Shi Sichen and Xiang Yujin repeated their dominant form with an 11-1 victory over Chloe Lai and Emily Lee in the men’s doubles. Tu Yichen and Zheng Weigang capped the afternoon with an 11-3 mixed doubles win over Breydel and Vegario.
China Faces Turkey to Determine Group Placement
The sweeping victories allowed coaching staff to evaluate depth across the roster, giving international competitive experience to Hong Tianyue, Tu Yichen, Li Menghhan, Shi Sichen, Xiang Yujin, Zheng Weigang, Zhang Yixin, and Liu Siya.
Following the victory over South Africa, the Chinese youth squad faces a decisive group-stage encounter against Turkey. The outcome of the upcoming fixture will determine final group placement and qualification for the knockout rounds as the team pursues the Suhandinata Cup.
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