The second round of the 2024 Badminton Asian Championships is in full swing. In the high-profile men's doubles Olympic qualification battle, with the withdrawal of He Jiting/Ren Xiangyu, the quota is gradually becoming clear, and the national feathers Liu Yuchen/Ou Xuanyi are just one step away from the Olympics, and Li Yang/Wang Qilin need to win the championship to overtake.
Ho Ji Ting/Ren Xiang Yu will face Malaysia's Goh Shi Fei/Izudin in this round, and after losing 11-21 in the first game, the "any" pair announced their retirement. The main reason for the retirement in such a crucial game is injury. According to the interview between the two after the game, Ren Xiangyu said that he suddenly suffered a back injury when he adapted to the venue, gritted his teeth and insisted on winning in the first round, and although he wanted to continue to insist in the second round, he still lost to reality.
According to the previous Olympic points situation, He Jiting/Ren Xiangyu have the opportunity to surpass Liu Yuchen/Ou Xuanyi to become the second brother of the national feather men's doubles, but with the withdrawal of the two, they also officially announced their withdrawal from the competition for Olympic quotas. Coupled with the exit of Indonesia's "Scud" combination in the first round, Liu Yuchen, Ou Xuanyi and Li Yang/Wang Qilin advancing to the quarterfinals, the battle for places has become more and more clear.
Liu Yuchen/Ou Xuanyi came back from 16-20 down in the second round to beat Korea's Kim Young-yi/Wang Can 21-16, 22-20, while Li Yang/Wang Qilin swept past Thailand's Supak/Gitinubong 21-11, 21-14 in just 28 minutes. With both pairs advancing to the quarter-finals, the Olympic points landscape has changed, with Li Yang/Wang Qilin needing to win to overtake Liu Yuchen/Ou Xuanyi in Olympic qualification points.
From the point of view, after breaking into the quarterfinals, Liu Yuchen/Ou Xuanyi's points have reached 74638 points, Li Yang/Wang Qilin must win the championship to overtake with 76408 points, and Liu Yuchen/Ou Xuanyi must stop in the next round, that is, fail to break into the semifinals. If Liu Yuchen/Ou Xuanyi breaks into the semi-finals, the points will come to 76,438 points, and even if the opponent wins, Liu Yuchen/Ou Xuanyi can also lead by 30 points. It can be said that Liu Yuchen/Ou Xuanyi are getting closer and closer to qualifying for the Paris Olympics.
Liu Yuchen/Ou Xuanyi will face the winner of the round between Hsieh Dingfeng/So Weiyi and Japan's Kenya Mihashi/Hiroki Okamura, while Li Yang/Wang Qilin will face Wu Shifei/Izudin. If Liu Yuchen/Ou Xuanyi can beat the No.4 seeds to advance to the semi-finals, the Asian Championships will be able to qualify for the Olympics before it ends, otherwise it will depend on the performance of Li Yang/Wang Qilin. We look forward to the Liu Yuchen/Ou Xuanyi combination continuing to surprise us.
In the Women's Singles, Women's Doubles and Mixed Doubles, the Women's Singles sisters Chen Yufei, the Women's Doubles sisters Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan and the Mixed Doubles world No.1 Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong all advanced strongly, with Chen Yufei beating Korea's Shen Youzhen 21-9, 21-12, Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan beating Thailand's Kanraha/Mu N Ong 21-9, 21-16 and Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong beating Xu Yongkai/Chen Weihan 21-11, 21-11.