China's national badminton team debuts in first women's doubles match of new Olympic cycle
2024-08-20
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Two Chinese women's doubles pairs won the first and second place in the Olympics. Photo courtesy of Xinhua News Agency On August 20, the six-day Japan Open Badminton Championships will kick off in Yokohama. This tournament is at the Super 750 level, the first high-level World Badminton Federation event after the Paris Olympics, and the first appearance of the Chinese badminton team in the new Olympic cycle. Most of the Chinese badminton team's Olympic athletes chose to avoid the competition, while the women's doubles team used a new combination of Olympic champions and other athletes.
Many famous players who just finished their Olympic journey did not participate in this tournament. The national badminton team did not send any Olympic athletes to the women's singles and mixed doubles events. In the women's singles, Wang Zhiyi and Han Yue were seeded No. 3 and No. 5, respectively, and joined hands with Zhang Yiman, who is ranked 16th in the world. In the mixed doubles, two young pairs were sent. Jiang Zhenbang/Wei Yaxin, who missed the Olympic qualification, were seeded No. 2, and the other pair was Cheng Xing/Zhang Chi.
The No. 7 seed in the men's singles, Li Shifeng, and the No. 1 seed in the men's doubles, Liang Weikeng/Wang Chang, who had originally registered, eventually withdrew from the draw. The men's singles will be led by Shi Yuqi, who was eliminated in the quarterfinals at the Olympics, and Lu Guangzu, Weng Hongyang, and Lei Lanxi will also compete. In the men's doubles, Liu Yuchen and Ou Xuanyi, who failed to qualify from the group stage at the Olympics, have submitted their retirement applications to the national team, and the "Liang Wang" combination, who just won the silver medal at the Olympics, withdrew from the competition. He Jiting/Ren Xiangyu will compete as the No. 5 seed, and the other two pairs are rookies Chen Boyang/Liu Yi and substitutes Xie Haonan/Zeng Weihan.
There are three Olympic athletes participating in the women's doubles. The rising stars Liu Shengshu/Tan Ning, who won silver in Paris, are seeded No. 2. New Olympic champion Jia Yifan and 24-year-old Li Wenmei form a new partnership and will compete as No. 8 seeds. In addition, there are Li Yijing/Luo Xumin and another new pair Zhang Shuxian/Keng Shuliang. It is worth mentioning that the national badminton team originally signed up a new pair of Chen Qingchen and veteran Zheng Yu, but the two withdrew from the competition.
