On the 9th Beijing time, the Chinese men's badminton team ushered in the first match of the 2022 Thomas Cup. Facing the non-seeded French men's team, the Chinese team that sent the "strongest squad" did not lose a set, but some of them were very difficult to win.
Although the squad of this expedition is dominated by young players, the Chinese men's team is still regarded as one of the strong contenders for the Soup Cup. Before the game, the boys also shouted in unison in the middle of the field the slogan of "work together and swear to win the soup cup". However, in the first set, Lu Guangzu, the first single of The National Feather, launched a 118-minute "marathon" battle with his opponent, and finally reversed it in the decider.
Due to the absence of the famous players Chen Long and Shi Yuqi, Lu Guangzu, who is ranked 25th in the world, took on a single heavy responsibility this time, and his opponent in this game was The 58th ranked Little Popov. The two sides fell into a bitter battle at the beginning, Lu Guangzu saved three innings in the first set, 25-23 ahead of the next city, and the second set failed to grasp the key points at the end of the set, losing 24-26. In the decider, Lu Guangzu fell behind for a while, and requested a medical timeout at 8-13 due to a sprained right ankle, and then continued to play. Popov had a leg cramp shortly after the game resumed, and the Chinese guy scored 10 consecutive points when he was 11-15 behind to make the team a "good start".
Lu Guangzu in the game. Image source: BWF official Weibo
After the match, Popov said he lost on his physical reserves. Lu Guangzu said that the training intensity of Guoyu is much higher than this, and he can fully adapt to such a high-intensity competition from the physical point of view. He said he started with some nervousness, but then adjusted in time to focus on playing with his opponents rather than thinking too much about the outcome, so he was able to turn defeat into victory in the adversity of falling behind and injured in the decider.
As a single participant, Lu Guangzu said that it is both an honor and a pressure, "What I want to do is to focus and invest, whether I win or lose, I must show all my skills and tactics and fighting spirit." Although the team is not generally optimistic about the outside world, he still stressed that the goal of the Chinese team at any time is to win, "but the process may be difficult, but I believe that every teammate will work in this direction, no matter what the result, to do their own." ”
Due to Popov Jr.'s doubles doubles, the order of the match was adjusted, followed by a second singles match, with World No. 38 Zhao Junpeng playing against rookie Mekle at No. 63. In the first set, Zhao Junpeng, who was behind most of the time, scored 5 consecutive points in the final stage of the innings to achieve a rebound, and won 21-19. In the second set, he did not give his opponent another chance and won 21-10.
In the third set, the new combination He Jiting / Zhou Haodong resisted the opponent's pursuit in the face of the dominant situation, defeating the world's 36th-ranked Dellu/Willig 21-17, 21-15, following the two consecutive wins against the latter after the German Open this season, and also locked in the victory for the Chinese team. In the third singles match, Li Shifeng swept Laney 21-14 in two sets.
Ou Xuanyi (left) and Liu Yuchen. Image source: The official Weibo of the Chinese badminton team
In the end, the first doubles match was played, and Popov Jr. came on again, playing hand in hand with his brother. The Chinese team sent another new pair of Liu Yuchen/Ou Xuanyi, ranked 118th in the world, to face the 30th-ranked Popov brothers, and the Chinese team missed the set point in the first set and was reversed 20-22. Subsequently, Liu Yuchen / Ou Xuanyi withstood the pressure and won 21-16 in two sets. The Chinese team fought hard for nearly six hours and won the "opening red" of this cup with difficulty of 5-0.