Copenhagen, August 22 (Xinhua) -- The 2023 Badminton World Championships continued on the 22nd, with Chen Yufei, the "first sister" of the national badminton women's singles, appearing and easily defeating Chinese Taipei's Bai Yupo at 21:14 and 21:13 to advance to the round of 16; In the men's singles, Li Shifeng, who fought for two consecutive days, also easily defeated Thailand's Wang Gaolun 21:10, 21:12 in straight sets to advance to the round of 16.
No. 3 seed Chen Yufei faced "old acquaintance" Bai Yupo on the same day, and this is the third meeting between the two this year, after the previous two battles Chen Yufei were the winners, and this time was no exception, in just 37 minutes, the Tokyo Olympic women's singles champion won two consecutive sets to take away the victory.
On August 22, Chen Yufei returned the ball in the game. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Ren Pengfei
"The first game was still based on adaptation, and I felt that my overall condition was still good, although there were still some mistakes in the control of the wind direction." Chen Yufei said after the game, "I have played a lot with her recently, and I will have a general expectation before going on the field, and I have some prepared tactics in my mind, so I will be more prepared." ”
Two other Chinese players, He Bingjiao and Wang Zhiyi, who were in the top half with Chen Yufei, also beat their respective opponents to advance. No. 5 seed He Bingjiao faced Indonesia's Vardani and won two consecutive games after losing the first one, winning 18:21, 21:19, 21:17. No. 10 seed Wang Zhiyi defeated Germany's Li Yifeng 21:18, 21:11 to maintain his winning record against his opponents.
On August 22, Wang Zhiyi returned the ball in the game. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Ren Pengfei
South Korea's Ahn Chee-ying, the favourites and now world number one, swept Malaysia's Wu Pan in straight sets before facing America's Zhang Beiwen in the next round. The highlight of the day was Japan's Okuhara Hope and India's Sindhu, who met in the finals of two World Championships in 2017 and 2019, winning one each. In this matchup, Okuhara hoped to take the initiative throughout the whole process and won two 21-14 victories.
On the day of the men's singles tournament, two Chinese players appeared, and this year's All England Open champion Li Shifeng faced Wang Gaolun, who was far behind him, and took away the victory 21:10, 21:12 without much challenge. No. 13 seed Lu Guangzu and Chinese Taipei's Wang Ziwei fought three sets, losing 16:21, 21:18, 19:21.
In addition, top seed Anselon comfortably beat France's Popov Jr. 2-0 to advance.
August 22, Zheng Siwei (left) / Huang Yaqiong in the game. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Ren Pengfei
In the doubles competition, all four pairs of national badminton pairs who participated that day passed the test. In the mixed doubles competition, the dominant event, all three pairs won easily and advanced to the round of 16. Top seeds and defending champions Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong took just 28 minutes to beat the German pair Ramsfusse/Lohau 21:17 and 21:4. No. 3 seeds Feng Yanzhe/Huang Dongping and No. 8 seeds Jiang Zhenbang/Wei Yaxin beat the British and Israeli pairs, respectively, to advance to the next round.
In the men's doubles, Ren Xiangyu/Tan Qiang and Singaporean pair Guo Junliang/Luo Jianxian played three sets, winning 21:12, 10:21 and 21:14 to advance to the round of 32.