On the evening of May 2, the 2024 Thomas Cup Men's Badminton Team Competition 1/4 finals between China and India started in Chengdu. After four hours of fierce battle, the Chinese team defeated the defending champion 3-1 and advanced to the semi-finals. Shi Yuqi and two pairs of doubles players made a contribution, while Li Shifeng lost to Lakshya Sen after three hard-fought games. In the semi-finals, China's opponent will be Malaysia, who eliminated Japan.
After a thrilling 3-2 win over South Korea in the final round of the group stage, the Chinese team quickly made adjustments after the game. One is to adjust the mentality, and the other is to adjust the lineup. In this life-or-death knockout match against India, the national badminton coaching staff hid Liu Yuchen/Ou Xuanyi, who did not play well in the previous game, and replaced it with He Jiting/Ren Xiangyu as the double double, a change that proved correct after the game.
Shi Yuqi is still the No. 1 singles player, and he faces India's highest-ranked Prannoy. In the first game, Shi Yuqi played relatively passively, losing 14-21. In the second game, Shi Yuqi improved the quality of the ball, played very patiently, and began to gradually control the game, winning 21-11. In the decisive game, Shi Yuqi played better and better, and was already unstoppable, 21-14 to score the crucial first point for the Chinese team.
Leung Wai Hang/Wang Chang continued to play as the Chinese team's first pair, facing strong opponents and last year's Hangzhou Asian Games men's doubles gold medalists Rankireddy/Shetty, the Liang and Wang duo played the passion of young players, won the match 2-1, rewriting the record between the two sides to 5 wins and 1 loss, Leung Wai Hang/Wang Chang continued to maintain the suppression of their opponents.
After leading 2-0, I thought that the Chinese team would take advantage of the situation to win the final victory, but there was still a problem in the second singles. Li Shifeng is ranked 6th in the world, while India's Lakshya Sen is ranked 13th in the world, and Li Shifeng is said to have the upper hand in terms of overall record. In the history of the confrontation between the two, Li Shifeng was at a disadvantage with 3 wins and 6 losses, and he was a little afraid of his opponent psychologically.
Sure enough, after winning one game 21-13, Li Shifeng suddenly lost power, not only lost two games in a row, but also lost two games in a row, 8-21, 14-21 lost two games in a row, which is somewhat incredible. The Indian team pulled the big score to 1-2, and the game was in suspense again.
The second doubles of the Chinese team, He Jiting/Ren Xiangyu, who thought they would not have to play, were in the field, and the two young men were ordered to be extremely excited, and they did not give their opponents Kapila/Plantic a chance at all, and defeated their opponents 21-10 to help the Chinese team eliminate the defending champion 3-1.
In the semi-finals, China's opponent was Malaysia, who eliminated Japan 3-1 in the quarter-finals.
Text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Liu Ailin
Editor/Xu Zhao