Han Yue in women's singles, Chen Baiyang/Liu Yi in men's doubles, and Guo Xinwa/Chen Fanghui in mixed doubles reached the final and are expected to hit three gold medals.
On the evening of May 18, 2024, in the semifinals of the Thailand Open, Han Yue in women's singles, Chen Baiyang/Liu Yi in men's doubles, and Guo Xinwa/Chen Fanghui in mixed doubles reached the finals, which are expected to hit 3 gold medals. Li Zijia entered the finals again after half a year, and Wu Jialong, who missed this year's Olympics, defeated Kunlavut in 3 games and reached the finals after more than 1 year.
1. Many people in the national feather men's singles were out of the game early
In this trip to Thailand, the national team did not send the strongest squad, but chose to let the players who had just finished the Chengdu Tangyou Cup rest, and at the same time give more training opportunities to those young players and rookies who failed to qualify for the Paris Olympics. This decision is not only to train the team, but also to hope that these young players can accumulate points through this competition and improve their world rankings.
In terms of actual performance, the performance of some young players did not meet expectations. Although they performed well in various individual events in China, they still seemed a little powerless in the face of the top players on the international stage. Men's singles Lu Guangzu, Zhao Junpeng, and Lei Lanxi were all excluded from the semifinals, which was a little disappointing. It is worth mentioning that Li Zijia 2-1 Zhou Tiancheng, after half a year, reached the final again, and tomorrow against Wu Jialong, is expected to break the championship drought on the eve of the Olympics.
Women's singles Zhang Yiman and Gao Fangjie also did not make it to the semi-finals, which is still when none of the women's singles world high-ranking players went to Bangkok to compete, and these girls still did not seize the opportunity to prove themselves.
Second, Han Yue, Chen Baiyang/Liu Yi, Guo Xinwa/Chen Fanghui reached the finals and brought surprises
In the women's singles event, the top seed Han Yue played well, defeating the host player Li Meimiao with a score of 2-0 and successfully advanced to the final. Another national player, Wang Zhiyi, lost a match against No. 6 seed Ge Tong, and the two sides fought to 20-22 in the tiebreaker, and Wang Zhiyi failed to grasp the key ball when she got the match point. The women's singles final will once again stage a Sino-Thai showdown: Han Yue vs Ge Tong.
In Men's Doubles, the Chen Boyang/Liu Yi pair finally found their form in this tournament after nearly a season of downturn and successfully reached the final. They showed their strength with a 2-0 win over South Korean veterans Kim Ki Jung/Kim Sa Lang in the semi-finals. Chen Boyang/Liu Yi will rise to the top against India's Rankireddy/Shetty in the final.
Men's Doubles semifinals
Thailand Open Badminton 2024
Chen Baiyang
Liu Yi
VS
Kim Ki-jong
Golden Sandron
In the Mixed Doubles, Chen Fanghui and Guo Xinwa were temporary partners to help Guo Xinwa improve her international rankings, but she did a great job today, successfully reaching the final in her first pairing, which was a surprising result. They showed their competitive prowess in the semi-finals with a win over Indonesia's Rivaldimen/Tari. Facing former world champions and hosts Dechapol/Sasiree in the final, Guo Xinwa/Chen Fanghui will not have it easy to win the title, but they have shown enough fighting spirit and quality to believe they will give their best in the final.
Overall, the performance of the national feather at the Thailand Open was mixed. The performance of the young players is commendable, but there is also a need to face up to the problems. Hopefully they can continue to work hard and improve in the future games.