"As I grew older and took into account my own wishes, I chose to give up and make way for my juniors. ”
Zhao Junpeng
In January 2024, Zhao Junpeng's name was not seen on the draw for the Malaysia and India Opens. It turned out that according to domestic media, the 27-year-old Zhao Junpeng had withdrawn from the national team, and the former World Youth Championship champion Sun Feixiang also withdrew.
Unlike the world junior champion Shi Yuqi and youth Olympic champion Lin Guipu of the same period, Zhao Junpeng, born in 1996, has not won a single title in nearly seven years since winning his first BWF World Tour title at the Macau Golden Grand Prix in 2016. Even Lu Guangzu, Lei Lanxi, Li Shifeng, etc., who entered the national feather later than him, have international championships, which can be said to be very embarrassing.
In the 2021 World Championships, Zhao Junpeng had a highlight performance, in the case of the other men's singles of the national feather out of the tournament in advance, he defeated Wang Ziwei, Naraoka, and Ruan Ri all the way to the top 8, but unfortunately in the quarterfinals with the Indian genius Lakshya, the opponent scored 3 points in a row when the tiebreaker held the match point 20-19. Although he failed to win a medal, Zhao Junpeng's first trip to the World Championships was significant, and at that time, Chen Long faded out of international competitions, Shi Yuqi was banned for his speech, and there was a lack of successors in the men's singles, so that fans saw the hope of the national feather men's singles.
In the 2022 season, Zhao Junpeng's best result is to win the third place in the World Championships, which is also Shi Yuqi's best result in the national feather men's singles in recent years after winning the silver at the 2018 World Championships.
This year is a critical period for the Olympic points competition, but Zhao Junpeng, who is in the rising period, was banned for 4 months because of a delay in the time of returning to the team. According to the revelations, the reason for Zhao Junpeng's recent withdrawal from the national team is that "as he gets older and takes into account his wishes, he chooses to give up and make way for his juniors." ”
Indeed, in the fiercely competitive national feather men's singles event, Zhao Junpeng's characteristics are not outstanding, there is no age advantage of young players such as Weng Hongyang, Liu Liang, Wang Zhengxing, etc., the aura of playing is not as good as Shi Yuqi, and the upside is not as good as Li Shifeng, and it is helpless to withdraw from the national team.
Sun Feixiang
It is understood that the withdrawal from the national team also includes the 2016 World Youth Championship champion Sun Feixiang. In the case of two vacant places in the first team of the national badminton, young players such as Liu Liang, Wang Zhengxing, and Hu Zhean are expected to seize the opportunity and be promoted to the first team to participate in high-level events as soon as possible.