Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan won gold for the fourth time in the women's doubles event at the World Championships.
With the "Fanchen Combination" beating their Indonesian opponents 2-0 in the women's doubles final to win the title, Guoyu ended her journey to the 2023 World Championships in Copenhagen.
This title also saved Guoyu's face - the team's only gold medal at this World Championships, and Guoyu's record of winning gold medals in every edition since participating in the World Championships in 1983 has been continued.
But the reality is brutal – since 2019, the Chinese team has won only one gold medal in three of the four World Championships in which it has participated.
The Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan combination achieved three consecutive world championships.
Sole seedling
As one of the most stable gold points of the Chinese badminton team, Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan never disappoints.
After reaching the semi-finals, they first defeated their teammates Zhang Shuxian / Zheng Yu 2-0 in the semifinals, and then in the final they beat the Indonesian pair of Rahayu / Siti 2-0 to take the trophy away.
However, the arrival of the gold medal is not as easy as it seems.
Being the focus of the team's gold competition means that the pressure on your shoulders is also greater than that of others. During the semifinals, Jia Yifan confessed to the media that he and his teammates would also feel pressure, "As soon as I went up in the morning, both hands were cold, and I knew that she was still quite nervous." ”
Coming to the final, the two also withstood the stubborn resistance of their opponents, "We have always maintained a very high fighting spirit, so when we encounter difficulties, including when we don't win the championship, we still want to win the gold medal again and again. Jia Yifan sighed after the game.
As they say, being able to maintain the peak level of the women's doubles event for many years is inseparable from excellent willpower and ideological quality. And this gold medal became the only gold medal of Guoyu in this World Championships, but also created the history of the two.
The "Fanchen Combination" has won gold in the women's doubles event of the World Championships four times, creating the history of the event and achieving three consecutive World Championships.
Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong lost to the Korean group.
No "steady win"
While the "Fanchen Combination" enjoyed the joy of winning the gold, the other Chinese combination "IELTS Combination" had to taste the bitterness of the final drink.
In the mixed doubles final, Jung Si / Hwang Yaqiong faced the South Korean pair Seo Seung-jae/Choi Yoo Kyun who had never lost to each other in the previous 9 meetings - but there was no "steady win" in the arena, and in the end, the Guoyu pair folded 1-2 and won the runner-up.
In this match, the "IELTS combination" was suppressed by the opponent in the first game, losing the first set 17-21, and then won back a city with a large score of 21-10 in the second game.
However, just when the Chinese audience was expecting a reversal, the Korean duo took the lead early in the tiebreaker...
After the loss, Zheng Siwei generously hugged his opponent and sent congratulations, but in the two after the game, the regret of not winning the championship was still overflowing.
The "IELTS combination" has also won the world championship three times before, and winning another title can also make history in the mixed doubles event..."It's a pity, because you can seize the opportunity in the process. The second game has actually been brought back, but as soon as I changed sides, I don't know how it was lost again. Zheng Sisi sighed helplessly.
As a result, Guoyu's results in this World Championships were fixed at 1 gold, 1 silver and 4 bronze, and the team only won 1 gold medal at the World Championships again after the 2021 World Championships.
In the gold medal table, Guoya ranked second after the South Korean team with 3 golds and 1 bronze.
Shi Yuqi lost to Japan's Kōda Naraoka.
Sound the alarm
At this World Championships, although Guoyu failed to win the championship in both women's doubles and mixed doubles, the overall advantage was still reflected - in the semifinals of both events, Guoyu staged a "civil war".
But in other projects, the challenges faced by the team are clear.
In the men's singles event, the leader Shi Yuqi, who has not yet recovered to his best form, lost 0-2 to Japan's Kōdai Naraoka in the quarterfinals; Li Shifeng lost 0-2 to Chinese Taipei's Wang Ziwei in the quarterfinals; Zhao Junpeng and Lu Guangzu stopped in the first and second rounds respectively.
In the men's doubles event, the "post-00s" pair Wang Chang/Leung Wai Hang fought fiercely against the host pair Astrup/Rasmussen in the semifinals, and finally lost by 2 points in the tiebreaker.
And Liu Yuchen/Ou Weiyi stopped in the top 8, He Jiting/Zhou Haodong stopped in the round of 16, Ren Xiangyu/Tan Qiang stopped in the second round...
It is not difficult to see that whether in the men's singles or men's doubles events, Guoyu is facing a strong opponent situation, the competition in the men's singles event is particularly fierce, this World Championships, men's singles is also the only project in which the national badminton has not advanced to the final four.
Chen Yufei was responsible for An Qianying again.
In the women's singles competition, Chen Yufei, the only one in Guoyu to reach the semifinals, once again lost to bitter master An Zhiying in the semifinals, which was also the fifth defeat in Chen Yufei's 7 meetings with An Zhiying this season.
Throughout history, although Guoyu has never had the embarrassment of 0 gold since participating in the World Championships in 1983, it has only won only 1 gold in two tournaments before 2019, and has won only 1 gold in three tournaments since 2019, which shows the challenges faced by the team.
A year later, the Paris Olympics will begin, and the fierce competition of the World Championships is enough to sound the alarm for the national badminton.