On August 26, Beijing time, the 2022 Badminton World Championships continued in Tokyo, Japan, and Zhao Junpeng successfully reached the men's singles semifinals. In the quarter-finals with Indian player Plannoy, Zhao Junpeng won a three-set comeback 2-1 and reached the men's singles final four of the World Championships. In the semi-finals, Zhao Junpeng will play Thailand's talented teenager Quinravut.
The Chinese team won only 3 places in the men's singles event at this World Championships, of which Lu Guangzu and Zhao Junpeng directly qualified for the competition, and Shi Yuqi accepted the invitation of the BWF to participate. Before the World Championships, Guoyu has been staying in the training camp in Chiang Mai, Thailand, after a month of systematic preparation, Guoyu is looking forward to a better performance at the World Championships, and the men's singles players must strive for better results.
Veteran Chen Long has been in recuperation since the Olympics, and his world ranking is under ranking protection, leaving no player in the national men's singles to enter the top 16 seeds. Zhao Junpeng has had some ups and downs in various competitions this year, such as the Thailand Open, the Indonesia Open and the Singapore Open. In the Indonesian Open, Zhao Junpeng reached the final and finally lost to Axelsen to finish second.
At the World Championships, Zhao Junpeng was divided into the lower half of the zone, and after the second round swept out indian veteran Srikans, Zhao Junpeng continued his good form, and in the third round, he won three sets to win against Li Zijia, one of the favorites to win the championship, and this victory will definitely bring more confidence to Zhao Junpeng. With Lu Guangzu and Shi Yuqi already out, Zhao Junpeng is the only seedling of the national feather men's singles, and he wants to strive to go further.
Planoy also did well at the World Championships, knocking out No. 2 seed Kento Momota in the second round before defeating younger teammate Lakshya Mori in the derby. Zhao Junpeng and Planoy have played each other once before in the World Badminton League, and zhao Junpeng eliminated Planoy 2-0 at this year's Indonesia Open.
After the opening, Zhao Junpeng started well, leading with 4 points first. Planoy returned the attack by aggressively attacking, equalizing by four consecutive points. After 5 draws, Plannoy remained offensive and he scored consecutive points to pull away. Zhao Junpeng, who was behind the score, tried to suppress the score, but he made more active mistakes, and Planoy took the opportunity to score consecutive points to lead 19-13. Zhao Junpeng did not give up resistance at this time, and played around with his opponent by taking more shots, chasing 6 points in a row to draw 19 draws. Plannoy scored two consecutive points at a crucial moment to make it 21-19 and he won the first set.
In the second set, Zhao Junpeng paid attention to controlling his own mistakes, and he also significantly increased his surprise attack, and soon led 8-1, 15-2. There was no suspense in the match after that, and Zhao Junpeng maintained the lead, and he pulled back a set 21-6.
After the start of the decider, Zhao Junpeng led the way 3-1, and Planoy immediately returned the attack to chase it to 5 draws. In the following matches, the two competed fiercely, the lead changed hands several times, and there were many equal points on the field. After 11 draws, Zhao Junpeng set off an offensive attack, and he seized the opportunity to score 3 points in a row. After that, the two sides alternated points, and Zhao Junpeng firmly maintained the lead. Planoy played tenaciously, once chasing to 17-19, and Zhao Junpeng returned the game point by 1 point. Planoy saved a match point, Zhao Junpeng successfully won the winning point, 21-18, he won the decider to win 2-1 to advance to the final four.
In the other three quarter-finals of the men's singles, Axelsen took only 41 minutes to win Quintin with two 21-10, Zhou Tiancheng spent 1 hour and 11 minutes to beat Christie 2-1 (14-21, 21-11, 22-20), and Thailand's Kunlavut eliminated defending champion Luo Jianyou 2-1 (21-12, 17-21, 21-8). In the semi-finals, Axelsen faced Zhou Tiancheng, and Kunlavut played against Zhao Junpeng.