In the early morning of March 10, Beijing time, the 2022 German Open Badminton Championships ended the first round of competition in Mülheim. The Chinese team, which is playing for the first time in international competitions this season, has sent a new combination in the doubles event, and three of them have encountered a "round trip".
Focusing on the Paris Olympic cycle, the national doubles team rearranged at the beginning of the year and carried out a large-scale dismantling and reorganization of the original combination. After a month of running-in, at the end of February, the groups played a round-robin match. Zhang Jun, president of the Chinese Badminton Association and head coach of the National Badminton Doubles, is looking forward to the German competition, saying that this year is the opening year of the Paris Olympic cycle, and the players need to actively improve the world ranking in the competition, "I hope that by the end of this year, three or four pairs of players in each individual event can enter the top 30 of the world ranking." ”
Mixed doubles: "IELTS" is split, one happy and one worried
The biggest change in the mixed doubles group is the "ace combination" Zheng Siwei / Huang Yaqiong splitting pairs. In preparation for the Paris Olympics, the two partnered young athletes in this year's competition. In the confrontation before the expedition, Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong played with their new partners and won the top two.
However, Zheng Siwei and 22-year-old Zhang Shuxian lost in their "debut" in international competitions. On the first matchday on the 8th local time, the two lost 17-21, 19-21 to the host team Jason/Evreux. On the 9th, Ou Xuanyi / Huang Yaqiong defeated Denmark's Kristiansen / Boll 16-21, 21-16 and 21-14, and will meet Tokyo Olympic champion and teammate Wang Yilu / Huang Dongping in the second round.
For the "IELTS" split pair, Zhang Jun said that the goal of the mixed doubles group is to keep the Olympic gold medal in China, "how to optimize the combination and make the new combination more competitive, is the most important." It is understood that the 28-year-old Huang Yaqiong may also partner with The "post-00s" rising star feng Yanzhe, who became the world champion with the team last year, to make more attempts.
Liu Cheng (left) and Zhang Nan joined hands again to stop the first round.
Men's Doubles: "Nan Cheng" regrouped, unfortunately lost out
In the Paris Olympic cycle, the men's doubles of the national feather launched four new pairs. In the first round of the German race, four pairs of players attacked in full swing, but only two pairs passed the "first round".
Among the losers were the 2017 World Championships men's doubles champions Zhang Nan/Liu Cheng. At the beginning of the new cycle, the two veterans joined hands again, and in the "debut" they lost 19-21 to Thailand's Zongguo/Caderen in two sets, and unfortunately came out.
The other pair lost was Ren Xiangyu/Tan Qiang, who lost 18-21, 21-12, 15-21 to the Japanese duo of Kei Koga and Taiichi Saito. In the Paris Olympic cycle, last year's World Championship runners-up Tan Qiang / He Jiting split the pair, Tan Qiang joined hands with Ren Xiangyu, and He Jiting and Zhou Haodong became a fixed combination. The two briefly joined hands in the Sudirman Cup last year and performed well, being called "He Dong Lion Roar" by fans. After being officially partnered, the two won the championship in the team round robin. In the first round of the German race, He Jiting / Zhou Haodong defeated France's Del Lu / Velige 21-15, 21-16 and successfully advanced.
In addition, after Li Junhui retired, Beijing star Liu Yuchen joined hands with Ou Xuanyi, who was 1.89 meters tall, to win the second place in the team round robin. In the first round of the German competition, the "New Twin Towers" defeated Denmark's Kyal/Sogaarde 21-15, 22-20 to advance to the second round.
Men's doubles is not a traditional strength of national feathers, but has performed well in the competition in recent years. Zhang Jun said that the world competition pattern of men's doubles is very fierce, "If we practice well, it is still very promising." ”
Du Yue (right) and Li Wenmei's "debut" swept through the pass.
Women's Doubles: Rookie "shuffle", still strong
In contrast, the women's doubles group had a smaller change. The main change came from Li Yinhui's retirement due to physical reasons, Du Yue and Li Wenmei restructured, and the latter's previous fixed partner Zheng Yu was changed to partner newcomer Zhang Shuxian.
In the first round of the German race, the national women's doubles players won a big victory, with two new pairs winning. Du Yue/Li Wenmei swept the host players Evler/Isabel 21-6, 21-9, while Zheng Yu/Jang Shu-hyun defeated the former youth champion and South Korean duo Bai Ho-na/Lee You-lin 21-16 in two sets to face another pair of South Korean star and world champion Lee So-hee/Shin Seung-hyun in the next round.
The image of this article is: the official Weibo of the World Badminton Federation