On April 26, Beijing time, the 2022 badminton Asian Championships continued, ushering in a peak showdown in the men's doubles arena. China's He Jiting and Zhou Haodong and Malaysian duo Xie Dingfeng and Su Weiyi met narrowly in the first round. In the end, He Jiting and Zhou Haodong lost to their opponents 1:2 by a large score and suffered a round of travel. After losing the game, He Jiting and Zhou Haodong looked a little lost, the two were the key training objects of the national men's doubles, but from the German tournament to the Asian Championships, they did not play their due strength, which disappointed many fans. Hopefully, the two can adjust as soon as possible and raise their eyebrows in the Thomas Cup!
A third of the 2022 season has passed, but the national men's doubles has not yet won the championship, and it is the only one of the five events of the team that has not received a gold medal. In the previous Korea Masters, Ou Xuanyi and Liu Yuchen, who represented the Chinese team, performed poorly in the final, losing two consecutive sets to the hosts Kim Ki-jong and Kim Sha Lang, and had no chance to help the team break the championship drought. At this Asian Championship, the Chinese team sent three pairs in the men's doubles event, namely Ren Xiangyu and Tan Qiang, He Jiting and Zhou Haodong, as well as Liu Yuchen and Ou Xuanyi.
After Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen split the pair, these three pairs are the strongest configuration of the current national team. From the perspective of overall strength, He Jiting and Zhou Haodong, Liu Yuchen and Ou Xuanyi are equal in combination, the former is good at flat blocking techniques, and the latter prefers to play high. Not surprisingly, Liu Yuchen and Ou Xuanyi are a pair of men's doubles that the coaching team focused on building in the Paris Olympic cycle, while the combination of He Jiting and Zhou Haodong needs to grow as soon as possible, and together with Liu Yuchen and Ou Xuanyi, form the double insurance of the Chinese team's men's doubles project.
He Jiting and Zhou Haodong gradually came to prominence in the Tokyo cycle, and although the two usually appeared in front of the camera less often, the fans had a deep impression on them. Previously, the two also accepted an exclusive interview with the media. When talking about which badminton player his idol is, Zhou Haodong reveals that his idol is Fu Haifeng, and He Jiting's idol is Lin Dan. Some fans joked, "This pair is the pair of men's doubles with the highest appearance of national feathers." In the talented Chinese badminton team, appearance is not the magic weapon for survival, strength and achievement are king.
In this Asian Championship, He Jiting and Zhou Haodong missed the opportunity to prove themselves. In the first match, facing the powerful Malaysian combinations Xie Dingfeng and Su Weiyi, He Jiting and Zhou Haodong played very hard. In the first set, the Chinese team group staged a reversal in the case of a big score behind, and won 21:18. Subsequently, the Malaysian combination took the initiative to speed up the attack, and He Jiting and Zhou Haodong made more mistakes, losing the second set 12:21. In the decider, the two sides launched a wonderful confrontation, and at the critical moment, He Jiting and Zhou Haodong made mistakes, and finally regretted losing the whole game.
(Luo Treasurer)