On April 25, Beijing time, the 2023 Asian Badminton Championships officially began.
As the outpost of the Sudirman Cup, Guoya is also the main force. In the men's singles, Shi Yuqi, Li Shifeng and Lu Guangzu played, and they are also the three highest ranked in the world in the men's singles lineup. According to the latest world rankings, they are ranked tenth, eleventh and fourteenth respectively.
The men's singles team won six consecutive Asian Championships titles from 2010 to 2015. But since Chen Long defeated Lin Dan 2-1 in 2017 to win the title, the men's singles of Guoyu has not won the Asian Championships. Momota Kento defeated Chen Long and Shi Yuqi in 2018 and 2019 to win the championship, and then the Asian Championships were suspended for two years due to the epidemic, and after the recovery in 2022, Li Zijia became king last year. The men's singles have not won the Asian Championships for 6 years.
In the long years, countless national badminton stars have won the Asian Championships - Sun Jun, Chen Hong, Xia Xuanze, Bao Chunlai, Chen Jin... Of course, the well-known Tawfik won the men's singles championships at the Asian Championships in 2000, 2004 and 2007, and Li Zongwei won the championship twice in 2006 and 2016. However, Lin Dan, the first man in the men's singles at the Asian Championships, deserves it – he has won the title four times in 2010, 2011, 2014 and 2015, the most in history.
Although the national men's singles have many honors in this event, it is worth mentioning that in this Asian Championships, none of the Chinese men's singles were listed as seeded players. Because according to the rules of the Asian Championships, the top eight in the world are seeded, and except for Anselon, the world ranking 2-9 is all covered by Asian players, and Shi Yuqi, who is ranked tenth, is also unfortunately not seeded.
From the perspective of grouping, it is also difficult for the national badminton men's singles to break through.
Shi Yuqi met the top seed in the first round, Indonesia's Jonatan, the two have met 12 times before, and it is difficult to predict the victory or defeat when they meet in the first round. Lu Guangzu faced Thailand's Wang Gaolun in the first round, with a 2-1 record in the all-time meeting, and if qualified, he may face the No. 5 seed Chinese Taipei's Zhou Tiancheng. Lee Shifeng defended the second half alone, facing South Korea's Jeon Yi-chan in the first round and Thailand's Kunravut, the sixth seed, in the second round.
But I have to say that after the downturn, the men's singles of Guoyu has shown signs of recovery - Weng Hongyang reached the top of the Korean Open a year ago, helping Guoyang regain the men's singles world championship after three years; Shi Yuqi broke his three-year title drought by winning the Danish Open last year; At the end of the year, Lu Guangzu reached the year-end finals of the BWF Tour; Li Shifeng and Shi Yuqi won the men's singles championship and runner-up in the All England Championship...
Do you think that Shi Yuqi, Li Shifeng and Lu Guangzu can win the men's singles championship for Guoyu again after 6 years at this Asian Championship and regain the glory of Guoyu men's singles?