On April 27, the 2024 Thomas Cup and Uber Cup Final (hereinafter referred to as the "Chengdu 2024 Tom Cup") will kick off at the Chengdu High-tech Sports Center. The Chinese women's badminton will be the first to take the stage, and will usher in the opening match against the Singapore team at 8:30 on the same day.
Athletes prepare for the 2024 Tang You Cup in the gymnasium of the High-tech Sports Center. Photo/Visual China
With the conclusion of the Asian Championships held in Ningbo two weeks ago, the Chinese badminton team has concluded a year-long Olympic points competition in badminton at the Paris Olympics. After China's Liu Yuchen and Ou Xuanyi secured their men's doubles quota for the Paris Olympics, the Chinese team secured 10 Olympic tickets and was the only team to reach the full quota. (Even though the deadline for the Olympic points tournament is April 27, there will be no more events that directly affect qualification after the Asian and European Championships on April 14.) ）
Following the 2016 Rio Olympics, the Chinese badminton team once again achieved full participation in the Olympic Games.
[1] The horn of "revenge" sounded on the eve of the Olympics
2024 is particularly fulfilling and special for the Chinese badminton team. The Paris Olympic points competition has just ended, and the Chengdu 2024 Tang You Cup held at home has arrived, and now it is only 91 days before the players enter the Olympic stage, and it is for this reason that this Tang You Cup has become the highest level of badminton before the Olympic Games.
Liu Yuchen/Ou Xuanyi at the 2024 Badminton Asian Championships. Photo/Visual China
On the evening of April 25, Beijing time, the opening ceremony of the Chengdu 2024 Tangyou Cup was held in Chengdu. For the players, "revenge" at home is an important thing.
The 2016 Tongyou Cup was held in Kunshan, Jiangsu Province, with Denmark and Indonesia eventually taking away the Thomas Cup and the Uber Cup respectively. And in 2022, the Chinese team experienced the pain of losing the defending You Cup in Bangkok. For the Chinese team, which has always been full of honors, these defeats are rare.
In this year's Toms Cup, the opportunity of "revenge" is in front of the Chinese badminton team, and in the group stage of the Thomas Cup and the second stage of the Uber Cup, the Chinese team is expected to usher in two "revenge" battles with the South Korean team in Chengdu.
Compared with the women's team that won the Uber Cup in 2021, the Chinese men's badminton team has a longer championship drought in the Tang You Cup. The last time the men's team won the Thomas Cup was six years ago, and now only Zheng Siwei, Shi Yuqi and Liu Yuchen are left in the team. However, rising stars are already showing their potential, and young people such as Li Shifeng, Weng Hongyang, Leung Wai Keng, and Wang Chang have performed well in recent competitions, and naturally have the desire to regain the trophy at home.
In the 2022 Uber Cup final, China 2-3 South Korea was the runner-up. Photo/Visual China
[2] Paris Outlook
There will be 15 medals in badminton at Paris 2024. The Chinese team, which is fully participating, is also eager to break through the record of winning six medals at the Tokyo Olympics.
The official website of the Paris Olympics once analyzed the lineup of the Chinese team two years ago, bluntly saying that "after Chen Long, the champion of the Rio Olympics and the runner-up of the Tokyo Olympics, faded out of the national team, the Chinese men's singles players have not yet emerged athletes who can perform at a stable and sustained high level."
Now, Shi Yuqi, who is the captain of the Chinese men's team at the 2024 Tang You Cup, has ranked second in the Olympic points rankings. The men's singles number one player is in hot form, winning silver in the 2023 year-end finals and beating arch-rival Viktor Axelsen in the group stage. In the 2024 season, he won two more tournaments, the Indian Open and the French Open.
In women's singles, Tokyo Olympic women's singles champion Chen Yufei has shown remarkable consistency in recent years, and has been able to go far in many events in recent years, and is now second in the Olympic points rankings. It is believed that the Tokyo Olympic gold medalist will still aim to defend his title even in the new situation surrounded by strong opponents.
In the men's singles final of the 2023 Sudirman Cup, Shi Yuqi celebrates winning the championship. Photo/Visual China
In the past year, the Chinese team has performed particularly well in the team competition. At present, judging from the international competition situation and world rankings, the women's doubles and mixed doubles events will still be the key gold events for the team in the Olympic arena.
In the latest edition of the BWF rankings, the Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan pair, who have conquered the women's doubles competition for many years, are still firmly at the top of the rankings, and the official channel of the Paris Olympics once commented, "If they can maintain their good form at the Paris Olympics, they will definitely be one of the favorites to win the championship." ”
In the mixed doubles event, Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong, who failed to win gold at the Tokyo Olympics, regrouped in the following time and are now also ranked No. 1 in the world, while Feng Yanzhe/Huang Dongping in No. 3 are also worth looking forward to. In the year-end finals of the 2023 season, these two pairs of national feather pairs won the championship and runner-up.
At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Chen Yufei won the women's singles gold medal. Photo/Visual China
It is worth mentioning that since badminton officially became an Olympic sport at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, the Chinese team has won a total of 47 medals in the Olympic badminton event, including 20 gold medals.
From 27 July to 5 August, the Paris 2024 Olympic Games badminton competition will be played at the Port La Chapelle Arena, located in the north of Paris.
Nine news reporter Dong Zineng
Edited by Wan Xuan Wu Di
[Source: Jiupai News]
Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author, if there is a source error or infringement of your legitimate rights and interests, you can contact us by email, we will deal with it in a timely manner. E-mail address: [email protected]