Changzhou, Jiangsu, September 10, Xinhua News Agency (Reporter Ding Wenxian, Xu Shihao, Wang Hengzhi) The 2023 China Open Badminton Open ended in Changzhou, Jiangsu on the 10th. In this Asian Games "training battle", the Chinese team entered three finals and won the men's and women's doubles championships. On the whole, in addition to Denmark, France has a clear rise momentum, and Asia is undoubtedly a three-legged situation in which China, South Korea and Japan, Indonesia and Malaysia are chasing the deer, which also means that the Asian Games journey of Guoyu will not be easy.
"Everyone worked very hard in this event, and through the competition in the past few days, we found that the level of each team is very close now, the investment of various countries and regions is very large, and we have also encountered great challenges. Congratulations to Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan for winning the women's doubles championship, and congratulations to Liang Weihang and Wang Chang for breaking the history of the Chinese men's doubles team not winning the China Open championship in nearly 22 years. Zhang Jun, president of the Chinese Badminton Association, concluded.
Chinese duo Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan (right) during the race on September 10. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Yang Lei
Old names with new faces
With the exception of men's singles and men's doubles, the three individual titles of this tournament are consistent with the recently concluded World Championships, and the performance of the famous players is still dominant. Denmark's Olympic champion Anselon and South Korea's Ahn Zhiying defended their world No. 1 rankings and pocketed the men's and women's singles titles respectively; Women's doubles top seeds Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan lightly beat the Korean pair of Bai Ha Na/Lee Shaoxi to the top; The men's doubles champion belongs to the world's third-ranked national badminton duo Leung Wai Keng / Wang Chang; South Korea's new world champions Seo Seung-jae/Choi Yoo-hyun won the mixed doubles title.
Of course, some "new faces" also appeared in the final. In the men's singles, world No. 15 Chinese player Lu Guangzu defeated his teammates Li Shifeng and Shi Yuqi to advance to the final of the BWF Super 1000 for the first time in his career. Although he lost to Olympic champion Anselon, his performance was still remarkable. "You need to sum up this game, find the feeling of winning, and then continue this form and have a better performance in the following games." Lu Guangzu said.
Denmark's Anselon (right) shakes hands with China's Lu Guangzu during a prize ceremony on September 10. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Bo
The French mixed doubles pair of Gikail/Del Ruy knocked out world number two Japanese pair Yudai Watanabe/Yusa Higashino 2-0 in the quarterfinals. In addition, the French team has a number of players competing in several individual events. At the Sudirman Cup in May this year, the performance of the French team was eye-catching, and even a French athlete said: "I feel that badminton is the first sport in France." "With the Paris Olympics approaching, the French team continues to invest in badminton, and if it can drive the popularity of badminton in Europe, it will undoubtedly be a good thing for the global promotion of the sport."
"Convention" and unpopularity
In this tournament, the two individual events that the Chinese team failed to reach the final were women's singles and mixed doubles. These two projects, one is a cliché, the other is unpopular.
In the women's singles, the furthest in the national feathers is Chen Yufei (semifinals). Once again, the four strongest women's singles players in badminton today, Olympic champion Chen Yufei, world number one An Zhiying, Japan's Akane Yamaguchi and Chinese Taipei's Dai Ziying gathered in the semifinals; Once again, Ahn had the last laugh as the 21-year-old South Korean won her ninth title of the season.
In the mixed doubles, the top four seeds collectively missed the semifinals. The world's No. 1 national badminton ace duo Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong lost to Seo Seungjae/Cai Yoo-hyun again after the World Championship final, and was blocked from the semifinals; World No. 3 Feng Yanzhe / Huang Dongping missed the quarterfinals. As the dominant event of the Chinese team, mixed doubles was placed on high hopes at the Paris Olympics, and this collective "dumb fire" sounded the alarm for future preparations.
Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong (right) during the game on September 8. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Yang Lei
On-site and off-site
Outside of the arena, there are also many highlights of this year's event. Chen Jie, deputy director of Changzhou Sports Bureau, introduced that the China Open Badminton Championship was held again after four years, and the ticket sales of the event were booming, with sales and revenue being the highest ever, and it was difficult to find a ticket for the semifinals and finals; During the competition, a series of supporting events were also held, including the Changzhou International Youth Badminton Invitational Tournament, the 13th East China Amateur Badminton Open, and the "Badminton Children's Walk" painting collection public welfare activity. In addition, the prize money of this tournament has been increased to 2 million US dollars, which is the highest prize money stop in the BWF Tour Super 1000 tournament, and the attractiveness of the event has been further enhanced.
On September 9, China's Lu Guangzu interacts with fans after the game. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Bo
In the carnival area outside the stadium, the event-related cultural and creative ice cream and gacha machine attracted the attention of many visitors, and the meeting venues of Antonsen, Dai Ziying, Li Zijia and other stars held by the title sponsor Victor were full. According to the relevant person in charge of Victor, souvenirs related to this event are also very popular.
And inside the arena, the athletes have to continue to fight.
Just after playing the World Championships two weeks ago, the Hangzhou Asian Games will be held at the end of this month, and many people feel tired from the intensive schedule, but the athletes can only continue to grit their teeth and train hard. Walking off the podium, when asked what to do first, Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan said in unison: "Rest!" Chen Qingchen said that he really wanted to rest for a few days, and Jia Yifan immediately "exposed" his teammates: "She just talked." Sometimes the coach asked her to take a break, and she said no, what if the opponent trains harder than me? ”
Looking forward to the Asian Games, An Zhiying's words are quite representative: "From this competition, we can see that there are many opponents who will be difficult to fight... The competition [at the Asian Games] is going to be very tough. ”
Source: Xinhua News Agency