Chao News client reporter Gao Huasheng
In the past week, more than 30,000 spectators watched the world's top badminton event, the 2024 Asian Badminton Championships, at the Ningbo Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium in Zhejiang Province.
As the last stop of the Paris Olympic Games points competition, many Olympic ticket suspense has settled here, so this badminton Asian Championships, which is equivalent to the Super 1000 level event, has attracted much more attention than in previous years.
Some people catch the last train to Paris, some people tearfully prepare for the curtain call, and some people break out of their cocoons and become butterflies ready to go.
Tickets to the Olympics are important
It is more important to break out of the cocoon into a butterfly and break through yourself
Wang Zhiyi
The women's singles champion is the Chinese player Wang Zhiyi, who everyone did not expect before the game, after all, she is only ranked ninth in the world, and there are many world No. 1 An Xiying, No. 2 Chen Yufei, No. 3 Akane Yamaguchi, and even teammates He Bingjiao and Han Yue are ranked higher than her.
Although she still missed out on the Olympic ticket in the final two games, Wang Zhiyi said that she was much more excited than winning the Asian Championships two years ago, because this was the first time she defeated Chen Yufei in her career, which was a very big breakthrough.
Also completing a self-breakthrough at the Asian Championships are Japan's Aya Ohori, and China's Han Yue and He Bingjiao.
In the women's singles 1/8 finals, Japan's Aya Ohori unexpectedly defeated Chinese Taipei's Tai Tzu Ying 2-0, and she surpassed her teammate Okuhara to get a ticket to the Olympics in Olympic points, which was her first Olympic qualification, and her career was finally complete.
He Bingjiao
In the women's singles quarterfinals, He Bingjiao defeated South Korea's An Seying in straight games, which was her first victory over her opponent after seven consecutive defeats against An Xiying, and in the women's singles quarterfinals, Han Yue defeated Japan's Akane Yamaguchi 2-0. It was her first win against Akane Yamaguchi, who had previously lost five straight against him. Although she lost to He Bingjiao in the final competition for Olympic tickets, she still won the applause of the audience.
Someone burst into tears
It's time to say goodbye
Nozomi Okuhara
In the first round of the Asian Championships, Japan's Nozomi Okuhara faced world No. 1 Ahn Se Ying of South Korea, and he tried his best to defeat 15-21, 21-18, 17-21, a match that lasted 1 hour and 29 minutes, which can be called a marathon battle, and it can also be seen that Okuhara hopes for the Paris Olympics.
After the game, he kept wiping away his tears, talking about the injuries in recent years, Okuhara hopes that he could not hide his loss: "The road to recovery from injury is too long and too hard, and it is not easy to come back and play until now, although it is sad to lose, but I played my full strength, and I believe this game will become a good memory for me." ”
Considering that she is nearly 30 years old, Nozomi Okuhara will definitely be out of action in the next Olympic cycle, and she will watch one less game.
The winner of this match, An Seying, also felt sorry for Okuhara, "I was also a little sad to see Okuhara crying, she was really a great player, and her performance on the court was also very good, and I am very happy to be able to give a wonderful game to the fans with her." ”
Yuki Fukushima / Sayaka Hirota
It is also a pity that the Japanese "rape flower" combination (Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota) is also regrettable. After the loss in the first round of the Asian Championships confirmed that she would not be able to participate in the Paris Olympics, Saika Hirota, who has been fighting with injuries, said in a post-match interview that she may not participate in the international competition again.
Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota were ranked No. 1 in the world for a long time, but the pair repeatedly missed the gold medal in the tournament and even earned the embarrassing nickname "The Cashier". Last year, Sayaka Hirota suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee at the West German Modi Badminton International Tournament in India, and in order to catch up with the Olympics, Sayaka Hirota decided not to go under surgery, but to treat conservatively and make a last stand for the Olympic ticket.
Now that the dream of the Paris Olympics is shattered, Sayaka Hirota says that her career has come to an end. "At the end of the moment, I felt very touched, and I couldn't help but cry when I thought of the scenes that had come all the way to the present. Sayaka Hirota said, and Yuki Fukushima, who was beside her, had already wet her eyes with tears.
This can't help but remind people of Japan's Kento Momota's heroic twilight, who even gave up the opportunity to participate in the Asian Championships early.
Someone set off smoke bombs
All for the Olympics
An Xiying's knees were covered with bandages
The final five individual championships of this Asian Championships were won by Wang Zhiyi, Leung Wai Keng/Wang Chang, Baek Ha Na/Lee So Hee (South Korea), Jonatan (Indonesia), Feng Yanzhe/Huang Dongping.
Some of these champions are new faces that we didn't anticipate before, rather than the world's top names such as Ahn Se Young, Akane Yamaguchi, Fan Chen, IELTS, and South Korea's Kang Min-hyuk / Seo Seung-jae, and some of them have even retired from the men's doubles world No. 1 Rankireddy/Shetty.
The overall feeling is that the Paris Olympics are just around the corner, and many of the athletes aiming for Olympic gold medals are also relatively conservative in the Asian Championships - we can understand by looking at the layers of bandages on An Xiying's knees, not to mention that they have already won their tickets to the Olympics.
After An Seying lost to He Bingjiao and missed the semifinals, South Korean badminton head coach Kim Hak-gyun explained that although An Seying's knee injury has fully recovered, she has not fully regained her sense and physical strength in actual combat. According to the plan made before the Paris Olympics, the competitiveness is gradually increasing. In order not to have an accident before the Olympics, it is obvious that he deliberately adopted to recuperate.
Feng Yanzhe/Huang Dongping
The same situation can also be seen in the mortal dust combination and the IELTS combination. What is happy for the Chinese badminton team is that Li Shifeng, Phoenix (Feng Yanzhe/Huang Dongping), Zhang Shuxian/Zheng Yu, Liang Weikeng/Wang Chang, these new generations are powerful, and they have gradually completed the replacement of the old and the new to take over the burden of Chinese badminton.
(Photo from the official photography team of the Asian Championships)
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