In 1999, at the age of 20, Pi Hongyan represented China at the U.S. Open Badminton Championships, her first international tournament since she was selected for the national team, and she lived up to expectations to win the championship. However, what is unexpected is that after her triumphant return, the national team not only did not congratulate her, but returned her to the provincial team. What's going on here? What was her later life like?
In 1979, Pi Hongyan was born in Wansheng, Chongqing, to a working family, both of whom worked in the coal industry. Because her parents were too busy at work to take care of her, she spent her childhood with her grandparents.
When she was old enough to go to school, Pi Hongyan returned to her parents. However, at this time, Pi Hongyan was thin and sickly, in order to make her strong, her father simply sent her to learn to play badminton when she was 8 years old. Unexpectedly, Pi Hongyan was very talented in playing badminton, and she only studied for 2 years and achieved good results in the provincial youth badminton competition. Subsequently, she was successfully selected by the Sichuan Provincial Sports Team and began her sports career.
The life of the provincial sports team is both hard and monotonous, and the rest of the time is basically spent on training except for eating and sleeping every day. In high-intensity training, some team members can't stand this kind of life and finally choose to give up. But Pi Hongyan persevered with tenacious perseverance because of her love for badminton.
At that time, Pi Hongyan's goal was to try to improve his skills and then advance to the national team. Because only by entering the national team can she have the opportunity to participate in some international competitions and thus become a world champion.
In order to achieve her goals, Pi Hongyan, who is already very talented, works harder than other team members, and her results continue to improve. For every competition, she is very serious. In this way, she not only accumulated quite good racing experience, but also her skills have repeatedly broken through. Eventually, she became the main player in the provincial sports team and achieved excellent results in domestic badminton competitions.
The red skin after the emergence attracted the attention of the national team. When she was 16 years old, the national team informed her to go to Beijing for training. With longing and dreams, she stepped on the train to Beijing with a smile.
After entering the national badminton team, Pi Hongyan found that there were strong hands like clouds. She thrived in the provincial team, where she was suddenly eclipsed. In addition, compared with other team members, her height of 1.64 meters is also slightly inferior. If she competes on the pitch, the advantage of the big tall is naturally stronger than her. But Pi Hongyan is not intimidated by the status quo, and she is convinced that she will be able to make herself quickly go hand in hand with the other team members and even surpass them through continuous efforts.
After that, Pi Hongyan received more professional training. After the training, she still did not leave the badminton hall, and she still had to complete the training tasks she had set for herself.
Sweat like rain, is the skin red every day of the daily routine. However, for an athlete with a dream, this is really nothing to talk about.
Two years later, Pi Hongyan welcomed her first international tournament, the U.S. Open Badminton Championships. For this day, Pi Hongyan has been preparing for several years. And she did play very well in the strong competition, with solid skills, she won the women's singles championship.
However, what Pi Hongyan did not expect was that after her triumph, there were not only no flowers and applause waiting for her, but a notice of returning her to the provincial team. It turned out that the head coach thought that her height of 1.64 meters and her playing style would not have a great future, and it was not worth spending too much energy on training.
This news can be said to be a thunderbolt on a sunny day for Pi Hongyan. Originally, she had just won the championship, and she was full of ambition, planning to show her skills in the national team and win glory for the country. As a result, she had to leave the national team before she could show her strength, which made her how not to be sad.
After crying for a day and a night, Pi Hongyan confessed her fate, packed her bags and returned to the Sichuan Provincial Sports Team. But Pi Hongyan's life in the provincial sports team is not good. Because she was returned by the national team, people think that she is incompetent, and there is much ridicule for her, so she sits on the cold bench in the provincial sports team more often, has fewer opportunities to compete, and it is good to have the opportunity to play 2 domestic competitions a year.
At that time, Pi Hongyan's parents were also about to retire, plus the two elderly people's health was not good, and they often had to see a doctor and take medicine, so the cost was very large. Pi Hongyan only has a monthly salary of 600 yuan in the provincial sports team, and there is no bonus if she does not play games, so her meager income, even her own life is stretched, not to mention helping her parents share the difficulties.
Seeing no hope, the disheartened Pi Hongyan came up with the idea of retiring.
But if she retires, she will never have a chance to continue her badminton career. So Pi Hongyan fell into a wandering situation during that time.
At the most painful time, a Danish badminton club extended an olive branch to Pi Hongyan. For Pi Hongyan, this is undoubtedly a good way out. On the one hand, the conditions offered by the club are quite favorable, on the other hand, she can continue her badminton career, so she accepted the invitation of the club.
Denmark is a small country with a small population, and there are many foreigners like Pi Hongyan among athletes. For example, the athletes in Pi Hongyan's club come from all over the world, and although they are of different nationalities, they are very friendly, so they get along very happily. During that time, Pi Hongyan, with her superb skills and outstanding talent, continued to win championships in various international open badminton championships. With her excellent results, she quickly reached 10th in the World Women's Singles Rankings, and she became famous in Europe.
After becoming a star in the badminton world, many European countries have offered extremely favorable conditions, hoping that Pi Hongyan can play for their own country. After several choices, Pi Hongyan chose France, she not only got the opportunity to study in France, but france also provided her with the best training conditions and coaches.
In 2003, Pi Hongyan won another women's singles gold medal at the French Open Badminton Championships. Subsequently, she achieved very good results in badminton championships, international competitions and other competitions. By 2004, she had finished in the top 8 in the women's singles rankings published by the BBA.
It can be said that at this time, Pi Hongyan is in the golden age of sports. In the following years, she won 11 gold medals for France, and her strength ranking quickly rose to 2nd place in women's singles.
Just after Pi Hongyan won all the prizes of badminton competitions in Europe, she finally looked forward to the opportunity to participate in the Olympic Games. For an athlete, winning the Olympics is the real world champion. Although Pi Hongyan could not represent China at this time, as an athlete, she still hoped to win the gold medal in this grand event to prove her athletic strength.
In 2008, in the badminton competition venue of the Beijing Olympic Games, Pi Hongyan passed five levels and scored a quarter of the competition smoothly. Her opponent in this competition is China's Zhang Ning, who is also her former teammate.
Throughout the game, Pi Hongyan played very well, whether it was a backcourt draw, a tight defense or a flexible counterattack. And her momentum of not conceding defeat in the end has left a deep impression on the fans. So the fans didn't look at her coldly because she played for France, but kept cheering and cheering for her.
Unfortunately, she eventually lost to Zhang Ning 1:2 and failed to reach the semifinals of the semifinals.
In 2012, the 33-year-old Pi Hongyan competed again at the London Olympics, but after all, he had already passed the best age for athletes. Coupled with the impact of injuries, Pi Hongyan failed to reach the quarterfinals. And Pi Hongyan also took the Olympic Games as the final competition of her sport. After the competition, she announced her retirement and said goodbye to her 14-year career.
After retiring from the army, Pi Hongyan did not accept a job as a women's singles coach, and she moved to Marseille with her husband, who is also an athlete. There she completed her Master of Arts in Sports Management, and then she worked as an intern in the sports department and did what she could for badminton promotion.
Today, Pi Hongyan is already a mother of 2 children, and she has returned to an ordinary life, living happily and steadily. Although she was once returned by the Chinese national team, it also allowed her to start another and more exciting life. Although she can no longer win glory for the country, she is deeply sorry, but she has also made a lot of contributions to the promotion of badminton in the world. I wish Pi Hongyan a more exciting life in the future.