Entrance to the national badminton final. This article image CFP
For the 13th time, Guoya lifted the Sudirman Cup trophy.
Since his first competition in 1989, Kuniwa has left behind a fascinating legend in the past 34 years.
Looking back on the past, Guoyu's entrepreneurial history and hard work history have been soaked with the sweat of generations of people, but in this long process, there is a spirit that has never changed.
As Liang Jinxiong, who experienced the first Sudirman Cup, said, "This is a sport that requires a lot of hardship... What the Chinese team inherits is the spirit of enduring hardships from generation to generation. ”
Liang Jinxiong (left) and Zhang Jun (right)
From nothing to something, from weak to strong
During this year's Sudirman Cup, the Chinese Badminton Association held a special event, that is, a "retirement ceremony" for Xinhua News Agency reporter Liang Jinxiong.
It was the last major he covered before his retirement, and of all the textual journalists at this year's Sudirman Cup, he was the only one who personally interviewed the inaugural Sudirman Cup in 1989.
Recalling the first Su Cup, some details can still clearly come to his mind - for example, there was no air conditioning in the Jakarta competition venue at that time, and the heat of the lights was particularly large, and some European athletes were so hot that they fainted just sitting in the stadium and watching the game.
But what impressed him even more was the 1995 Sudirman Cup, the first time in the history of the national badminton won the championship.
Sun Jun won a crucial battle in the men's singles event. And at that time, the Su Cup and the World Championship were connected, and it was difficult to recover in time. ”
As a mixed team competition, the Sudirman Cup has always been regarded as a benchmark for judging the overall strength of a country's badminton, so the first Sudirman Cup championship is of undoubted importance to the national badminton.
Shi Yuqi
Since then, Kuniwa has become a hegemon-level existence. To this day, Guoyu's 13-time Sudirman Cup victory is also a great ride - the South Korean team that has won the second most Su Cup has only 4 times.
In addition, defeating Indonesia in the final of the 1995 Su Cup to win the championship also has a special meaning for Chinese badminton.
In fact, the development of Chinese badminton has a considerable degree of relationship with Indonesia. In the fifties and sixties of the last century, it was with the return of Indonesian overseas Chinese with outstanding badminton skills such as Wang Wenjiao, Chen Fushou, Tang Xianhu, Chen Yuniang, etc., that the Chinese team entered the fast lane of learning the top level of badminton in the world.
These returned overseas Chinese who resolutely returned to China have cultivated a large number of outstanding disciples, including Li Yongbo, and these disciples have become an important role in the continuous development of Chinese badminton - the honor of national feathers, which has also been inherited.
Before 1995, Guoyu lost to Indonesia twice in the Sudirman Cup, including the semi-finals of the Sudirman Cup in 1993. But from the 1995 final victory, Guoya maintained his all-win victory against Indonesia in the Su Cup.
In this tournament, Guobu also defeated Indonesia in the quarterfinals. From a former learner to now a leader in the history of the Sudirman Cup, Guoyu has emerged from scratch, and the context from weak to strong is clearly visible.
Chen Yufei
The spirit of hardship has never been broken
In the development of Guoya, there was no smooth sailing.
But in such a process, what people can see is the inheritance from generation to generation.
For example, the 1995 Sudirman Cup was Li Yongbo's first world championship after serving as the head coach of the national team. Today, Li Yongbo's disciple Zhang Jun has become the chairman of the Chinese Badminton Association and the "head" of Guoyu.
For example, Sun Jun, who made great contributions to the first Sudirman Cup for the national team, is now the coach of the men's singles team of the national team. Under his guidance, Shi Yuqi, Li Shifeng and other players are working hard to carry the new banner of the national badminton men's singles.
"Wang Wenjiao passed on to Li Yongbo, Li Yongbo passed on to Zhang Jun, these are all things I experienced, and all I saw... These handovers were all smooth because the philosophy of badminton they spread was the same. Liang Jinxiong told The Paper.
In his view, the core that has not been forgotten in decades of inheritance is the spirit of hardship.
Zhang Jun (right)
"It's a very hard sport. Whether the two sides can withstand it in the end depends on the accumulation in peacetime, if they do not train hard in peacetime, they will not be able to fight at that time, and the action will be out of shape. ”
"Chinese badminton has its own characteristics, its own advanced things, advanced training methods. And we can endure hardships, and what the Chinese team inherits is the spirit of suffering from generation to generation. This thing will not be thrown away, and I believe that even if Zhang Jun is handed over to the next generation in the future, he will also inherit this spirit. ”
The spirit of not being afraid of hardship has indeed been engraved into the genes of the Chinese badminton team.
The national team's training volume of six and a half days a week is considered high intensity in the eyes of many players from other countries, but it is with such a daily routine that the national team has been able to remain at the forefront of the world for a long time.
At the same time, the players are also taking the initiative to put forward high demands on themselves.
For example, in the semifinals of this Su Cup, even if Chen Yufei was not in good condition due to physical reasons, she still insisted that "this is not a reason to lose", and attributed the reason to her too many mistakes, "After going back, you must also summarize what you didn't do well in the game." ”
Chen Long hugged his wife
Help from the senior "expert group"
Hard work and diligence are the fine traditions that the Chinese badminton team has never lost for many years, but in addition to inheriting this spirit, there are more meticulous and warm support between the "old people" and the "newcomers".
For example, the practice of the national team inviting "expert groups" to the team for coaching is a manifestation of this support.
The "expert group" is a retired athlete who has achieved great results on the international stage and comes to the team to provide guidance to the current team members. For example, at present, Olympic champions such as Chen Long and Cai Yun who have withdrawn from the national team have taken on such a job.
Chen Long revealed that their help to the new generation of players will focus more on sharing competition experience and providing psychological counseling. And the help brought by these experiences is also real.
"For example, the experience before and on the field, the pace on the field, including some subtle techniques." When talking to the surging news reporter about the specific gains he got from his predecessors, men's singles player Li Shifeng said.
Women's doubles player Jia Yifan also said that when he heard many suggestions from his predecessors, he would have a feeling of "waking up the dreamer".
"In fact, the high-level duel to the end is not necessarily a technical problem, but more a psychological problem, such as how to deal with the key points, what to do when chasing the scores... The best seniors will give us advice on this. Tang Jinhua, a retired female star who has retired, told The Paper.
"When seniors come to the team to train with us, they will also teach us a lot of things invisibly." This habit and atmosphere of seniors helping younger generations has existed for many years and has become one of the traditions of Chinese badminton teams.
The whole team of Kuniba
In the exchange, when talking about why the Chinese badminton team has been able to maintain a world-class level for decades, and lift trophies in team events such as the Sudirman Cup, women's badminton star Wang Xiaoli mentioned three words - cohesion.
"A team like ours is built up from generation to generation, but I hope this can give the young players a sense of confidence, rather than become a heavy burden. With the opportunity to compete, it is more valuable to show yourself to the fullest. ”
As Wang Xiaoli said, every generation of national badminton players has had moments when they were helped by their predecessors, so when they can help the next generation, they will not turn back. This is a heritage, but also a responsibility.
"Only when our whole team is strong will we have a place in this world."
With the efforts and dedication of generations after generations, this honorary division is destined to endure.