Liu Yuchen/Ou Xuanyi: One step forward, there is an answer
Even Liu Yuchen and Ou Xuanyi did not expect that the phrase "take a look" actually made them have a definite number in the dark. The two people, who originally lived in the same dormitory, were busy running on different trajectories with their respective partners. It wasn't until after the Tokyo Olympics that the opportunity suddenly came, and they became companions standing side by side. Standing again at the starting point of departure, Liu Yuchen and Ou Xuanyi cherish each other even more, and for the direction of their dreams, they must move forward together.
As the number one pair of national feathers in the Tokyo cycle, Liu Yuchen's "Champion Puzzle" is full of medals of honor spelled together with his former partner Li Junhui. From the Asian Youth Championship, the World Youth Championship, the World Championship, the Thomas Cup, the Sudirman Cup, in the nine years of cooperation, they have broken through the siege in the shadow of the sword and light, and established a "twin towers" era with unique scenery. After the Tokyo Olympics, the injury was affected, and Li Junhui wandered again and again and finally chose to retire. When he said goodbye to his partner who had been with him for 9 years, Liu Yuchen, who stood at the crossroads, was lost and low, but his determination to continue to fight has never wavered. Watching his teammates fight overseas, he could only put the desire in his heart into the training ground.
Unlike Liu Yuchen's "silky" performance, Ou Xuanyi is well known because he became a partner with Olympic double champion Zhang Nan during the Tokyo Olympic points race. Born in 1994, he entered the national team at the age of 23 with his results in the transfer. Although he was selected for the first team at an older age and had the original partner in the youth competition compared to most of his teammates, he cooperated with Ren Xiangyu, who also had no partner, and after scoring points throughout 2018, they reached the 16th place in the world men's doubles ranking. Only before this, Kuniwa already had 4 pairs of men's doubles in it. When the road was uncertain, the team decided that Zhang Nan began to grab Olympic points with him who was still a newcomer. Since then, Ou Xuanyi, who was originally passive, has found that chance has never closed the door to him.
As the new Olympic cycle unfolded, the team also began a new round of adjustments. Liu Yuchen and Ou Xuanyi, who were in the same year of fighting, were both facing the situation of finding a new partner. Living together, they often talk about badminton and remember their previous verbal appointments. Liu Yuchen said: "Finding a new partner is not a simple matter, the coach spent a lot of thought for me, made a variety of pairing attempts, and then decided on the combination with Ou Ge (Ou Xuanyi). Ou Xuanyi also said that in his heart, he has always been very eager to find a fixed partner, not to mention that the partner is Liu Yuchen.
Speaking of this hand in hand, they have had a deep chat more than once, and they all know the degree of hardship they will face in the next year. Liu Yuchen said: "Because of the epidemic, we don't have time to exercise slowly, and the points of each game are very important. Moreover, we are all twenty-seven or eight years old, and this cooperation will go on forever, and it is impossible to have time to change the next one. However, I know Og better, so it will be easier to get started. In addition, living together for a long time, it will be easier to communicate. ”
For Ou Xuanyi, when he first heard about the combination and tried, he did not dare to really hope to become a reality. "In the past, it was all a step-by-step mentality, but now with Liu Yuchen, I feel that I must be confident." Once, he was more accustomed to listening when he was carried by Zhang Nan, and this time, he hoped to be able to win with Liu Yuchen, who was similar in age, and actively rushed in that direction.
The pairing of the doubles combination is like metaphysics, like a love affair, there is love at first sight, there is also a long-term love, and Liu Yuchen and Ou Xuanyi? They each grew up in the long river of time, and then looked back and realized that the other party might be the most suitable choice.
Before the new journey that was about to begin, they tried their best in every tactical lesson, and the feeling of losing and regaining added a mature passion to their cooperation and made them cherish each other as partners. "We talked, since we decided to match together, we must work together, seize the opportunity, to complete the final dream journey for us." "I used to feel like I was missing the best opportunity, but in fact, the opportunity was always there. We will start with the most recent targets and raise the world ranking as much as possible. In 2022, we will complete the task of good soup cup and Asian Games. ”
Q: What was your biggest feeling after finding a new partner?
Liu Yuchen: There will be a sense of freshness. However, from the current environment, the pressure on me and Ogo is very great. Because the epidemic will not have many games for us to exercise, whether our points can participate in higher level events or not needs to be premised on winning. We can say that we are the big players in the team, and this time it seems to be a new beginning, but it can also be said that it is the last cooperation between the two of us. Because we were all 30 years old when we got to the Paris Olympics, it would be unrealistic to find a new partner. Therefore, now we must rely on our own competitiveness to work harder and enjoy the process.
Ou Xuanyi: If it wasn't for Liu Yuchen mentioning it, the matter of partnering together is really something I dare not think about, because his results have always been very good. However, because we often talk about playing and have very clear and consistent goals, I think that I, who missed many opportunities, want to seize them this time.
Q: How has your former partner changed?
Liu Yuchen: I have walked with Li Junhui for 9 years, in fact, I have been constantly finding new gains from him, and it will also bring me reflection. Li Junhui is a person who is very focused on herself in training, which is very inspiring to me. Because we both have different personalities and abilities, constantly running into each other is the focus of doubles. Along the way, I feel like I learned to be myself first and then help my teammates. The game is a matter of two people, and it must be solved by two people together, because if one side does not reach it, it will cancel each other out.
Ou Xuanyi: In the days when I play with Brother Nan, Brother Nan will always take me, whether it is life or training and competition, he will tell me a lot. However, it is inevitable that the field will always be afraid of dragging Nan Brother's hind legs. Therefore, there can be no lack of self-confidence on the field, which is probably something that I and Liu Yuchen must overcome in the future. Before, I always felt that I had missed a lot of opportunities, but the opportunities were always around, and I had to break through myself first.
Q: What has been your recent physical condition? What to expect next?
Liu Yuchen: Because there has been no actual combat competition for more than half a year, I am still a little worried about the feeling of the competition. At the end of last year, there was a good treatment for injuries on the foot. Originally, it had been treated before the Olympic Games, but because of the epidemic, it was delayed until the end of all the competitions to have the opportunity to be treated. At present, the training and technical training are doing better, and I hope that after March we can practice while playing, summing up the experience, and walking more smoothly.
Ou Xuanyi: At the end of last year, I participated in my first World Championships, mixed doubles and men's doubles were two-wheeled tours, and then experienced my first quarantine life. It is really not easy to recover, and I have experienced the hard work that everyone has been working. I now train two or three lessons a week in the men's doubles group, practice tactics with Liu Yuchen, and train in the mixed doubles group the rest of the time. Because I am competing in a part-time competition, I hope that I can reserve my physical strength and meet the test that begins in March.
Ren Xiangyu / Tan Qiang: Headwind reunion "Yu Tan" complements each other
Many people may feel unfamiliar with this new combination, in fact, they are very familiar with each other. Seven years ago, they were each other's first international partners, winning bronze medals in men's doubles at the 2015 Asian Youth Championships and fifth place in men's doubles at the World Youth Championships. It can be said that after many years, they choose to hold hands with each other again, which is the best interpretation of their "not forgetting the original heart".
In the second half of 2021, Tan Qiang and Ren Xiangyu have experienced similar curves, they are in pain and hard work, in exchange for the right name they desire. At the Shaanxi National Games, Tan Qiang won a valuable men's team bronze medal for the Jiangsu men's team, and Ren Xiangyu led the Guangdong men's team to break into the men's team final again after 16 years and won a silver medal.
After that, Ren Xiangyu gave himself ten days off and then returned to the Guangdong team to train. During that time, he always imagined the national team transfer in two months, thinking about his future path, worried about whether he would be discouraged if he did not play well. The unknown is full of training life, and it is not good.
On the other hand, Tan Qiang participated in the Su Cup and the Tang Cup with the team, winning a championship and becoming a world champion. This seems glamorous, but for Tan Qiang, who is always eager to show and prove himself, the loss of the Su Cup group stage made him grumpy, did not get the opportunity to play in the key games, and let him have an inexplicable resignation. Two months later, at the World Championships, the more mature Tan Qiang was more calm in the face of difficulties and did not fall into the whirlpool of difficulties like before. However, even if he wins the men's doubles silver medal, more praise may fall on his partner, and the outside world's affirmation of Tan Qiang is always less than imagined.
In mid-January, the team proposed a plan to reorganize the men's doubles. Under the premise of determining that all the combinations were disrupted, Tan Qiang naturally thought of ren Xiangyu, the original partner of that year. At this time, Ren Xiangyu had already returned to the first team through the national training team transfer and the national first team transfer. In his opinion, the old partner choosing himself is a thing that can be expected.
A year ago, Ren Xiangyu let his national team seat run away from his hand in the national team transfer in Lingshui, thus living a whole year of provincial team life, which is undoubtedly a big injury for players who are in the golden age. Tan Qiang's choice this time gave himself a new choice in the darkness, and also threw a guide rope that could be grasped for Ren Xiangyu, who had just taken a step out of the misty jungle. The two first partners of each other, two friends who also experienced setbacks and confusion, found a sympathy between partners, and hit it off.
The two who grew up in the same group have been good friends since childhood, so although they have not competed or trained together for six years in the middle, when they re-practice on the first day, they will still find the taste of the struggle at the beginning of the track. The mood returns to the mood, and the long-term strangeness makes them play particularly chaotic in the first week of joint training, just like two men's singles temporarily getting together to play men's doubles.
At the beginning of the run-in, they would watch the technical video together every two days. They are also the kind of people who have words that will not be hidden, and problems will soon be discovered and solved. Just three weeks later, when they saw the video posted online by Coach Chen Qichen, they unexpectedly found that they had solved many problems hand in hand, and the rotation was more comfortable. Especially when they saw some positive comments from netizens, they had a little more confidence in themselves. 'It feels like the fit is a lot better than it was at the beginning, and hopefully we can improve our confidence through high-quality training and confrontation, and it's important to win more in the team." Tan Qiang said.
Ren Xiangyu said that Ah Qiang is a small snail, and he is a firefighter, where there is a fire to save, because his running ability is strong, the area of replenishment is large. Tan Qiang said that the "little man" killing ball is cotton smashing the ground, wonderful and light but the lethality is doubtful, and his own killing ball is a hammer smashing the ground, full of power. Their joking analysis of each other makes people feel their optimism and self-confidence, and also feel their determination to go up against the wind.
Q: What are your strengths and weaknesses?
Tan Qiang: We have all experienced low tides, and with each other's support, we will have more courage to face difficulties and not be afraid of difficulties. The disadvantage should be that we are not stable enough, and sometimes it will be difficult to fight with opponents who are a little lower than us.
Ren Xiangyu: Speed is my advantage, and attack is Ah Qiang's advantage, so we are actually quite complementary. In the current men's doubles group, I should feel the least personally in international competitions, which is also the difficulty I may face in the competition.
Q: Have you ever wondered what your combination can be called?
Ren Xiangyu: "Strongman" combination? "Feather Tan" combination? Wouldn't it be a little too domineering!
Q: It's been more than a month since the run-in, which scene has impressed you more?
Ren Xiangyu: It should be that one night in the confrontation, I won the duck (Wang Yilu) and lao Wang (Liu Cheng). Seriously, before that time, we fought against each other every day and lost, and we didn't know how to fight. In that game, we came up and lost 11-21, feeling that we couldn't kill the ducks and the old king. After the second game, we did not say technical tactics directly, and kept reminding each other: don't let go! One more bite! Drag them to 15 beats! Spend time with them! As a result, we won 21-12, 21-19, which was a confrontation to win against the pressure. It was that game that made us find the feeling of a partner, and after passing the first level of the combination formation, it still felt very meaningful.
Q: You are all extroverts, do you often talk about "crashing" on the field?
Tan Qiang: Yes, yes, we can say it, both on and off the field. We have a good relationship, so the combination will be more talkative. Everyone knows that "Little Husband" is a leper in the team, and there are many words, and sometimes they are broken! However, I think this is a very good point, because he puts in it and thinks of so many problems, which is still very helpful for us to find problems in time. Interestingly, the most common thing we say on the pitch is the same sentence: encouragement is the mainstay. Mistakes, we will say: "It's okay, encouragement is the mainstay." ”
Q: After six years of reuniting, how do you feel that the other party has changed?
Tan Qiang: To be honest, I used to feel that "Little Husband" was sometimes a bit impetuous and a tendon. But now that everyone is mature and has experienced the storms, they can calm down more, not blame each other or blame themselves too much, and the increase in tolerance makes us run into each other better.
Ren Xiangyu: Ah Qiang's overall strength and ability are much stronger than before, and his experience and ability to read the game are also much stronger than mine. In comparison, I am still a little naïve. I am not a small team member now, although I am not an old team member, I am also developing in the direction of a big team member, and I should strive to become more mature!