The 2022 All England Badminton Tournament may be the "masterpiece" of the golden duo of Zheng Siwei / Huang Yaqiong. Because Huang Yaqiong's age has reached the age of 28, the Chinese badminton team decided to tear her and Zheng Siwei apart, even though they are still the world's No. 2 super combination.
The younger Zheng Siwei ushered in his new partner, 22-year-old Zhang Shuxian. Obviously, they will become the Paris Olympic cycle, the Chinese team in the mixed doubles event, in addition to the yellow duck combination, another pair of key training objects. And Huang Yaqiong was abandoned, because she was considered too old by Zhang Jun, and was assigned a partner who was also "old" and had a very average past record.
At last week's German Open, Zheng Siwei/Zhang Shuxian suffered a round trip, while Huang Yaqiong/Ou Xuanyi defeated Olympic champions Wang Yilu/Huang Dongping in the second round and finally reached the final, only to lose to the world number one Thai duo Dechabo/Sha Xili in the final. At that time, the scene made people see Huang Yaqiong's powerful ability, and it was inevitable to sigh.
Coming to the All England, the IELTS duo was re-paired, and was listed as the No. 2 seed in the bottom half, and their first-round opponent was the French duo of Villiger/Tran. The difference in strength between the two sides is huge, but Zheng Siwei /Huang Yaqiong may be because of the mixed feelings in their hearts, the game is not good, and the hard battle is only passed in three sets, and the scores in the three sets are 21-15, 18-21, 21-12.
Obviously, he won, but Huang Yaqiong's eyes were full of loneliness. Obviously still at the peak, obviously technically able to complement each other, cooperation is also tacit enough, but because of the age problem forced to dismantle the right, Huang Yaqiong is naturally difficult to reconcile. At a time when Chinese badminton is in a full-blown recession, it is she and Zheng Siwei who take the lead in entering the world's top ranks, and when the other four individual events in the World Series are returned, only they keep the last fig leaf of national feathers.
In 2018, they won eight championships, including the Asian Games and the World Championships; in 2019, they successfully defended their titles at the World Championships, and the world number one position was almost unchanged, becoming the well-deserved number one favorite to win the Tokyo Olympic Games. Only later, Wang Yilu/Huang Dongping made rapid progress, and the IELTS combination lost to their opponents in the finals of the Olympic Games and the National Games, and suffered a heavy blow.
After a round trip to the 2021 World Championships, it was originally thought that the IELTS team of the national badminton team would conduct psychological counseling in order to quickly re-emerge, after all, when it came to the Paris Olympics, they were only a 30-year-old and a 27-year-old. But who would have thought, Zhang Jun said: They may be able to fight for another year, but after that? Subsequently, the IELTS combination was rudely dismantled, and Huang Yaqiong was disguised into the "cold palace".
It will take time to create a new combination, and when Thailand's Dechabo/Sha Xili are firmly at the top of the world and Wang Yilu/Huang Dongping are not very safe, if the IELTS combination wins the All England Championship, will it make Guoyu change the original intention of the split? Let's wait and see!
——Pay attention to the small fish and feel the temperature of sports!