Before the emergence of Lin Dan, who is the strongest badminton male singles player is not determined, but who has the best badminton skills, most fans blurt out the name of Zhao Jianhua.
First, technical characteristics
Badminton veteran Hou Jiachang once described Zhao Jianhua in the book: "His interpretation of badminton skills has reached an unprecedented height. He did not need to create any 'domineering', but became the most influential of the 'Four Heavenly Kings' at that time, and his contribution and influence on badminton skills have transcended national borders and regions. ”
When Zhao Jianhua withdrew from the badminton world, Frost praised him as "the person who can best show the true character of badminton". Such a high evaluation, Zhao Jianhua's technical and tactical level can be seen.
Zhao Jianhua, his style of play is the same as his name, like a swordsman on the court, the racket in his hand is a sword, moving forward, killing decisively. At that time, coinciding with the reform of badminton rackets, aluminum alloy rackets replaced wooden rackets to promote technological reform, and badminton began to emphasize the power of speed and weaken the technical role. And a strong offensive player like Zhao Jianhua is a stone breaker, he has delicate techniques, hanging balls and hooking angles are a must. At the same time, with excellent physical fitness, his backcourt killing power is unique in the badminton world. In the game, as long as he has the opportunity, he will jump up high and slash, and the opponent will either be killed by a slap or be hit by his subsequent net front assault, and the cleverness and force are perfectly combined on him. His quick offensive style of play led the technical development trend of the entire world badminton world at that time.
Zhao Jianhua after retiring
Second, the stone broke the sky
Zhao Jianhua was born in Nantong, Jiangsu Province in 1965, and he began to train badminton at the Nantong Sports School at the age of 11. In 1978, at the age of 13, Zhao Jianhua entered the Jiangsu Provincial Badminton Team and won the Men's Singles Championship of the Jiangsu City Badminton Tournament at the age of 16. In 1983, at the age of 18, Zhao Jianhua entered the national badminton team. You know, Yang Yang, who is 2 years older than him, is still relying on Zhao Jianhua to be selected for the national team in the same year. (Huang Yichong, then the coach of the Provincial Team of Jiangsu Province, told the national team that if it wanted to pick Up Zhao Jianhua, it would take Yang Yang with her as a doubles partner.) In those days, top singles masters generally played doubles. ）
At the end of 1984, at the age of 19, Zhao Jianhua made a splash in the Scottish Open, defeating Frost, the "world king", to win the men's singles championship. Just two months later, at the Japan Open in January 1985, he defeated Frost again, and then defeated his debut target, Han Jian, the leader of the national feathers, and won the men's singles championship.
In March of the same year, in the semi-final of the All England Championship, he eliminated the Indonesian star Lin Shuijing 2-0, this game is also regarded as a classic by many fans, perfectly showing his technical characteristics, under Zhao Jianhua's shooting, badminton is like "Little Li Flying Knife", pointing to where it flies, how many times, Lin Shuijing does not know where the ball fell, full of fields to find. Such a wonderful performance made the British audience, who has always had a gentlemanly demeanor, also go crazy. In the final against Frost for gold, he won again 2-1, becoming the youngest champion in this ancient event. At that time, the three strongest countries in the international badminton world were Indonesia, China and Denmark, and the respective façade figures of the three countries were defeated by a 19-year-old young general in half a year, and the shock caused by Zhao Jianhua could be imagined.
The heroic teenager's spring breeze is proud and blind to the badminton world, and the dashing and domineering style of the ball has attracted a large number of fans, and just as the world badminton is waiting for a new emperor to ascend the throne, the injury has become Zhao Jianhua's eternal regret.
Soup cup group photo
Third, the death of genius
In 1985, 20-year-old Zhao Jianhua went to the World Championships as the top seed, but fate gave the spirited talent a blow. On the night of his departure to Canada, Zhao Jianhua suddenly had a high fever, and after arriving in Canada, his condition became more serious, and he was diagnosed with pleurisy. Zhao Jianhua, who is full of confidence, simply cannot accept the fact that he withdrew from the game due to illness, and he insisted on playing, but because of his serious illness, he was sent back to China for treatment by the team.
After two months of treatment, Zhao Jianhua's body gradually improved, but the body permanently left a medical ring that would lead to a great reduction in lung capacity. For badminton, which consumes a huge amount of money, this is undoubtedly fatal. Zhao Jianhua did not concede defeat, and in 1986 he returned from injury, although his physical strength decreased significantly, but his skills became more and more sophisticated.
At the Asian Games in September 1986, Zhao Jianhua, who had restarted his career, was full of firepower, defeated many masters, including Yang Yang, and won the Asian Games championship, announcing his strong return. The 1987 World Cup also won again.
But injuries ultimately devastated the spirited badminton genius, losing to his old rival Frost in the semi-finals of the 1987 World Championships and leaving the 1989 World Championships in tears again. Zhao Jianhua could only watch Yang Yang overtake in the bend and rule the world feather altar that should have belonged to him.
Fourth, break the cocoon into a butterfly
Five years ago, the spirited Zhao Jianhua made a splash at the Old Britain Open, the oldest badminton event, and 5 years later, in the Whole Britain, the ups and downs of Zhao Jianhua set sail again in the All England. He defeated various opponents and reached the final, facing the Indonesian young player Zogo, in the final, Zhao Jianhua showed the technical beauty of badminton to the fullest, not only to win, but also to win wonderful. Regarding this game, I strongly recommend that you have the opportunity to watch the video, saying that no matter how much you write, it is better to intuitively feel.
At the Beijing Asian Games in the same year, Zhao Jianhua went all the way to the final again, facing the ruler of the yutan and his old friend Yang Yang. The game was a thrilling game. Zhao Jianhua's ingenious line change dunk was rescued by Yang Yang one by one, Yang Yang's light rubbing in front of the net was also disintegrated by Zhao Jianhua one by one, you come and go, Zhao Jianhua finally won 15-10, 15-11 yang Yang, becoming the first player to defend the Asian Games badminton men's singles champion. This match is also regarded as the pinnacle of the four kings of badminton.
For Zhao Jianhua, his ultimate dream is the world champion who symbolizes the highest honor of badminton. In 1991, he embarked on his journey to the World Championships for the fourth time. But fate did not intend to let him go, and the national badminton team collectively contracted typhoid fever in Indonesia. No one else was doing anything, but Zhao Jianhua was so sick that even eating was life-threatening. After ten days in the hospital, Zhao Jianhua lost 10 pounds and saw that he was going to miss the opportunity of the World Championships again. Zhao Jianhua went out, carrying the doctor behind his back, and secretly ate the white water bubble biscuits. Unexpectedly, the act of violating the doctor's instructions received miraculous results, and Zhao Jianhua's condition miraculously improved.
With this episode, Zhao Jianhua cherished this hard-won opportunity even more, he will not let go again, in the semi-finals, facing the 21-year-old player Adi with flexible pace and tenacious style, Zhao Tianwang perfectly showed what is called a smooth, tricky cleavage and cold killing ball, interspersed with a deadly net in front of the net, playing indonesian youngsters tired of running, difficult to overcome, almost like the teaching bureau, easy to reach the final.
In the final, Zhao Tianwang once again contributed a famous game. The opponent was Wei Renfang, the indonesian façade who was rising strongly at the time, and everyone was looking forward to a wonderful duel between Mars and Earth. In the end, Wei Renfang lost under Zhao Jianhua's fierce attack, lost five consecutive points in the first set, and was completely discouraged by the stormy attack at the beginning of the second set, and finally lost another set 15-4. Zhao Jianhua finally broke the spell and won the world championship he had dreamed of. Fate can defeat a genius body, but it cannot defeat the soul of a warrior, and Zhao Jianhua sang a complete and wonderful battle song accompanied by injury.
Fourth, the beauty of mutilation
Like Yang Yang, Zhao Jianhua's biggest regret in his career is also the Olympic Games. After years of fighting and falling ill, Zhao Jianhua had planned to retire after the World Championships, but he was unwilling to give up the opportunity to play badminton at the first Olympic Games in 1992, but in the end, the unknown rookie Cai Xianglin used three rolling tennis balls to draw a crippled end to Zhao Tianwang's first and last Olympic Games.
Under the night sky of Barcelona, all the past, or joy or sorrow, or glory or denigration, excellent talent, bumpy journey, unyielding struggle, dreams, pressures mixed together at this moment, even if there are still regrets and unwillingness, but can only be reduced to a sigh, like the fireworks of that night, the gorgeous bloom finally slowly dissipated, the dust settled.
Years later, when mentioned in an interview, Zhao Tianwang will still say that the Olympics are his eternal regrets. However, the small imperfections will not affect the grandeur of Zhao Tianwang's badminton career, but like Venus's broken arm, it has added a layer of tragic color to his badminton course, not lost in his youth and madness, not collapsed in the invasion of injuries, stood up again after falling again and again, never forgot his original intention in the ups and downs, always went forward to pursue his dreams, and declared war on opponents and fate with sharp slashes is the greatest charm of Zhao Tianwang.