Just after advancing from the group stage, Guoya plunged headlong into "Hell Mode".
On the evening of May 18, the draw results for the Sudirman Cup quarter-final matchup match were released, and Guoyu faced a strong opponent Indonesia in the quarterfinals, and then it is very likely that he will face consecutive challenges from Japan and South Korea.
Before the start of the tournament, the team's goal was to defend the championship and achieve a third consecutive Su Cup, so no matter which opponent, it was the only way to win.
Chen Yufei showed her cute side after beating the Danish team.
Knockout meets "Hell Mode"
As the host of the 2023 Sudirman Cup, Guoyu, who played at home in Suzhou, did not face too many challenges in the group stage.
The team played their final group game on the evening of May 18, eventually beating Denmark 5-0. Guoya, who won all three games and finished first in the group, became the team with the best results in the group stage of this tournament.
Statistics show that Guoyu is the only team in the group stage to achieve a 5-0 sweep in all three group games, and in terms of gains and losses, Guoyu has won 30 games and only lost 3 games, which is also the team with the highest win-loss ratio.
This is partly due to the fact that Guoya's Group A opponents are average (Egypt, Singapore, Denmark), but after passing the relatively easy group stage, Guoyu's knockout luck can only be described as bad.
Due to the top spot in the group, Guoba's opponents in the quarterfinals can only choose one of three from Indonesia, Japan and Chinese Taipei, and Guobu finally draws Indonesia.
In the Indonesian team, the men's singles are led by world No. 2 Ginting and world No. 6 Jonatan, while the men's doubles are led by the world No. 1 Adianto/Alfian combination, while the women's doubles pair Rahayu/Ramadanti also has a certain impact.
After beating Indonesia, Guoya, who is in the top half of the zone, will also face the winner between Thailand and Japan in the semifinals.
In contrast, the two matches in the second half are Denmark vs Malaysia, Chinese Taipei vs South Korea, and the overall competitive pressure is obviously not as good as the first half of China, Japan, Indonesia and Thailand, and South Korea has a good chance of reaching the final.
Mixed doubles world No. 1 Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong combination.
Every step of the way must be fully committed
"No matter who is drawn as an opponent, it is quite difficult to fight." At the end of the group stage journey, Guoyu captain Zheng Siwei said.
"For example, we thought the Japanese team was strong, but they became second in the group. I think the Indonesian team is very strong, and they are also the second place in the group, so in fact, they are all strong teams in the game. ”
Zheng Siwei's analysis is very objective, but the knockout spot drawn by the Chinese team also directly hit the highest difficulty that can be encountered. But in Zheng Siwei's words, no matter which opponent it faces, the team can only do four words: go all out.
"I want to be able to convert pressure into motivation and be able to play more excitedly."
In fact, every athlete in the national badminton team is prepared to face difficulties.
Women's singles number one player Chen Yufei said that in her own events, whether it is Akane Yamaguchi of the Japanese team, Dai Ziying of the Chinese Taipei team, or Mariska of the Indonesian team, "I am stronger than me in terms of strength, I just adjust my mentality and then learn from them." ”
"Now the overall speed of women's singles is getting faster and faster, the strength is getting stronger and stronger, and I still have some shortcomings, and I have to improve. Every game is not easy to play, you have to do yourself better to be able to win the game. ”
Liu Yuchen, a player in the men's doubles event, also said, "Indonesia is ranked No. 1 in the world in men's doubles, and we must go all out to compete with them, and we must be very difficult to prepare. ”
Chen Qingchen in the game.
Dense schedules are also enemies
For Guoyu, this year's Sudirman Cup is not only a trip to the third consecutive championship, but also the 13th Su Cup championship in the history of the impact team.
At the same time, the collective honor of the national badminton also needs to be defended in such a team competition - at the 2022 Uber Cup, the national women's team lost to South Korea in the final, and the national badminton men's team was blocked by Indonesia in the 2022 Thomas Cup.
If the Sudirman Cup defense fails this time, it means that Guoyu will miss the Sudirman Cup, Thomas Cup and Uber Cup at the same time, such a team experience is rare in the entire history of the national team - previously, from 1993 to 1994, Guoyu did not win the Su Cup and the Yuyou Cup in a row, 30 years ago...
Since the inaugural Sudirman Cup, Guoyu has never fallen out of the final four in this tournament.
In the face of strong opponents, Chen Yufei's statement represents the voice of the players, "As long as the coach believes in me and lets me play, I will show 100% of my condition and go all out to treat the game." ”
Li Shifeng, who made his first appearance in the Su Cup in the final round of the group stage, also said that whether he plays or not, he will be ready, "Don't think about the result, more importantly, do the process well." ”
For Guoyu, in addition to the strength of the opponent, the dense schedule is also an enemy. After finishing the group stage at 10 p.m. on the 18th, there was a break of less than 24 hours, and at 5 p.m. on the 19th, the team was about to usher in the quarterfinals.
After that, the semi-finals and finals were also non-stop, and were scheduled to be staged successively on the 20th and 21st. This will be a severe test for the fitness and depth of the squad of every team.