(Xports News Reporter Na Seung-woo) Chen Yufei, the star of Chinese women’s badminton and Ahn Se-young’s biggest rival, overcame an injury to reach the top of the Indonesia Masters and regain third place in the world rankings.
However, to manage accumulated fatigue and injuries, he decided to withdraw from the Thailand Masters.
According to Chinese portal site NetEase, Chen Yufei won the 2026 Badminton World Federation (BWF) Super 500 Indonesia Masters women’s singles final, which ended on the 25th (Korean time), defeating Thai rookie Pichamon Opatnipus with a game score of 2-0 (23-21 21-13).
This is the second trophy of my personal career in this competition.
Immediately after winning, Chen Yufei opened up about her hardships through her SNS. Chen Yufei confessed, “January this year was quite difficult. I was not in good shape for the past two weeks due to inflammation in my shoulders and ankles.”
He then expressed his feelings about winning, saying, “I am really happy that I was able to overcome these difficulties and stand on the court again. I am grateful to everyone who supported me, and I will continue to move forward one step at a time.”
 |
In fact, Chen Yufei finished the first and second rounds of this tournament in 20 minutes. However, she felt her physical limitations as she played long matches in succession against strong players such as Pusala Sindhu (42 minutes) from the quarterfinals, Nozomi Okuhara (54 minutes) from the semifinals, and Pichamon (52 minutes) from the finals.
The final match against Pichamon was also quite difficult, as he was ahead by one game and then allowed a deuce, but in the end, he was able to survive with his mental strength.
Chen Yufei achieved success in three competitions held in January, winning once and reaching the semifinals twice, but her physical condition appears to have reached its limit.
With this win, Chen Yufei pushed out Akane Yamaguchi (Japan) and regained third place in the world rankings. According to the latest rankings, Ahn Se-young remains in first place, and second place is Wang Zhiyi (China). Phichamon of Thailand, who took second place, rose sharply from 36th to 30th.
 |
Chen Yufei will not participate in the Thailand Masters (Super 300), which he was originally scheduled to participate in.
Initially, he applied to participate in this competition as well. Chen Yufei has also participated in small competitions, including winning the Macau Open (Super 300) last year.
However, this time he declared abstention due to health reasons. He plans to rest for the time being and focus on rehabilitation.
 |
NetEase said, “Chen Yufei is expected to recharge through a break during the Asian Men’s and Women’s Team Championships (Qingdao, China) in early February. His next competition will be the German Open (Super 300) at the end of February, which is a rehearsal held a week before the All England Open (Super 1000).”
Photo = Yonhap News / SNS
Reporter Na Seung-woo winright95@xportsnews.com
The categories of this article follow the classification of media outlets.
