Japan Open | Mixed doubles and women's doubles remain strong, China's national badminton team wins two gold medals
2024-08-26
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On the evening of August 25th, Beijing time, the first stop of the BWF World Tour Japan Open after the Paris Olympics ended the competition in all events. The Chinese team achieved the same result as the Paris Olympics - the mixed doubles and women's doubles won the championship.
Jiang Zhenbang (left) and Wei Yaxin at the award ceremony.
Next week, the Chinese badminton team will take the top three in the world in mixed doubles
The Japan Open is a World Badminton Federation Super 750 tournament and the first high-level tournament after the Paris Olympics. Although the national and regional associations, including the Chinese badminton team, have hidden some top players, it is still considered a first-class event in the world badminton world today. The two events in which the Chinese badminton team won the championship at the Japan Open also won gold medals at the Paris Olympics, showing its strength in women's doubles and mixed doubles.
In the mixed doubles final, Jiang Zhenbang/Wei Yaxin faced the Hong Kong pair of Tang Chun Man/Tse Ying Suet, and won 21:12, winning the first gold medal for the Chinese national badminton team after the Paris Olympics. Before the Paris Olympics, they also won the last stop of the tour, the Indonesia Open.
In fact, Jiang Zhenbang/Wei Yaxin had performed quite well in the Paris Olympic qualifying tournament, ranking among the top eight and qualifying for the Paris Olympics. However, the Chinese badminton team is full of talented mixed doubles players, with Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong and Feng Yanzhe/Huang Dongping ranked higher, so Jiang Zhenbang/Wei Yaxin still missed the Paris Olympics. But next week, their world ranking will be third, and the Chinese badminton team will successfully take the top three in the world.
Jiang Zhenbang said that the performance in this race was normal: "We used all the knowledge accumulated in training, so we performed well on the field." Wei Yaxin said that she didn't expect to make it to the end in Japan: "Because of injuries, I didn't train for almost three weeks before the trip, and I didn't expect to win the championship in the end."
Regarding their performance at the beginning of the Los Angeles Olympic cycle, Wei Yaxin said that the two have advanced: "We were elementary school students, and now we are junior high school students." As for expectations for the new cycle, Jiang Zhenbang said: "I am just thinking about the goal of winning the world championship in a single event and the Olympics."
Liu Shengshu/Tan Ning (left) in the competition.
The "Altar" combination defeated the world's No. 1 in women's doubles again
Compared with their mixed doubles opponents, the women's doubles "Altar" combination Liu Shengshu/Tan Ning's opponents are truly the world's top level - the tournament's top seeds Baek Ha Na/Lee Shao Xi. However, Liu Shengshu/Tan Ning had easily defeated this Korean combination in two sets in the quarter-finals of the Paris Olympics. The rematch 25 days later was much more stalemate than in the Paris Olympics, but the "Altar" combination seized the key points, defeating their opponents again at 21:18 and 22:20 and stepping onto the championship podium.
Regarding this final, Liu Shengshu reviewed the game after the match: "The time for this tournament after the Olympics is indeed very tight, but we both tried our best to adjust our condition to the best. The second game was not smooth at the beginning, but we still calmed down and thought about serving and receiving well. When we encountered difficulties, we reminded each other, which was the good thing we did today."
Over the past year, Liu Shengshu/Tan Ning have grown rapidly, from fledgling players to the Olympic runner-up podium. Liu Shengshu said that during this period, Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan have been teaching them the experience, and they have also made their own summary bit by bit: "We have been solving existing problems and want to do every detail on the court well. Our goal this year is to play well in every station we participate in, get good experience, absorb skills, tactics and mentality, and enter the finals."
Tan Ning expressed her hope to try her best to improve her shortcomings and optimize her strengths, learn from her elder sisters (Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan), and strive for a Grand Slam. Although the goal and wish of "Grand Slam" seems a bit early, it is not impossible for Tan Ning/Liu Shengshu and Jiang Zhenbang/Wei Yaxin.
Men's and women's singles and men's doubles should make efforts
The mixed doubles and women's doubles champions reflect the "embarrassment" of the other three individual events of the national badminton team. The lack of high-level newcomers with potential means that men's and women's singles and men's doubles may become the weak points of the national badminton team during the Los Angeles Olympic cycle.
In the men's doubles, the Paris Olympic Games men's doubles runner-ups Liang Weikeng/Wang Chang were absent. None of the three pairs of men's doubles led by He Jiting/Ren Xiangyu were able to advance to the semi-finals, which slightly disappointed the fans.
In the women's singles, host Akane Yamaguchi defeated Thai player Busanan 2-0 and won the Japan Open for the fourth time at home. Like the men's doubles, the Chinese women's singles missed the semi-finals in advance. Among the two players participating in the Olympics, He Bingjiao has clearly withdrawn from the national team, and Chen Yufei has not yet been determined. After them, it seems that Han Yue and Wang Zhiyi may represent the Chinese women's singles in the new cycle, but the two did not go further in this competition. If they want to revive the women's singles, the road ahead is still long.
In the men's singles, there were no Chinese players in the finals. In the end, it was the 19-year-old Lanier who defeated the veteran Chou Tien-chen from Chinese Taipei 2-0 and won the final. Born in 2005, the young French player defeated the world's top players such as Lee Zii Jia and Shi Yuqi along the way, shocking the world men's singles as a dark horse. In contrast, the top men's singles player Shi Yuqi was eliminated in the semifinals, and the younger generation of Weng Hongyang and Lei Lanxi suffered a "first-round tour". Whether it was the Paris Olympics or the Japan Open, the overall performance of the Chinese men's singles was not satisfactory. The revival is not just Shi Yuqi's business.
Of course, it is too early to make any conclusions now. Next month, the higher-level China Open will be held in Changzhou. Then the Chinese national badminton team will field all its main players and world badminton masters will gather in Jiangsu. The result of the China Open can roughly reflect the world badminton landscape in the next Olympic cycle.
Proofread by Li Haihui
