The world badminton scene in the 1980s was an era of brilliant stars and the most brilliant era of The Chinese badminton team. At that time, the badminton technology was exquisite and delicate, the playing style was full of flowers, and it looked more flavorful than the current ball, and the fans of that era were happy.
This year, we will look back at the fifth World Badminton Championships held in Beijing in 1987, and the fans who have watched this tournament and impressed are now almost fifty years old. In that tournament, the Chinese team won all five individual championships, plus the Tangyou Cup that had been won the previous year, and all 7 championships of the Badminton World Championship were all included in the Pocket of the Chinese team, setting an unprecedented and amazing record.
The Chinese team won the Thomas Cup
The most wonderful nature in all the matches is the men's singles, the "four kings" immortal fight, the scene is wonderful, the process is ups and downs, and after many years, it is still spicy in retrospect, and it is undoubtedly one of the most classic games in the history of badminton.
The top seed in men's singles at this World Championship is the 29-year-old Danish football king Frost, who is said to have won more than 200 titles of all sizes, but has not won the World Championship.
Frost's most feared man is Zhao Jianhua, who has lost three times in a row to this fairy-playing Chinese boy since the 1984 Scottish Open. This time, the road was narrow, and the two of them were indeed divided into a half-district. However, Zhao Jianhua was also full of mixed feelings at this time, and Zhao was at the peak of almost invincible in the world at the last World Championships, and as a result, a major pleurisy almost ruined his career. After returning to China, Zhao Jianhua fell ill for more than a year, and in 1986, he returned and participated in some competitions one after another, and his state was not as good as before.
Judging from the grouping situation, Zhao Jianhua's upper half of the district except Frost, everyone else is easy to deal with, and the semi-final is most likely to be the two of them meeting. On technical strength, Zhao Jianhua has an advantage over anyone, from the past record of the fight to see that he has a clear advantage in playing Frost, but after a serious illness, the strength declines, and the victory or defeat is not easy to say.
Zhao Jianhua's technique is unparalleled
Yang Yang and Sugiato are divided into the lower half of the district, and they are the enemies of the enemy for a lifetime. Sugiato was the only of the Four Kings to win the World Championships singles title, and the dark-skinned Indonesian seemed to be full of energy, famous for his ferocious slashing and dashing backhands. However, he has never won Yang Yang in his life, and it can be said that his career was ruined by Yang Yang, so that many people said that his title of "Heavenly King" was not worthy of the name, and should be replaced by Xiong Guobao.
The race began on May 18, with the first two days of the game not being alarmed, but the third day was stormy.
In the first half of the district, the Chinese team sent two minesweepers to escort Zhao Jianhua, one was zhang Qingwu, the national champion at the age of 23, and the other was Li Spear, who was lonely and unknown at that time, and would be thunderous in the future. The 29-year-old Li Mao has technical ability, the internal game win rate is very high, and no one can play the wind, but once he arrives at an international competition, it is a round trip. In this regard, his own explanation after many years is that the psychological quality is too poor, so it cannot be played.
Zhang Qingwu lived up to expectations and passed three levels in a row. He easily passed the first round, encountered the Englishman Hall in the second round, lost one set and then won two sets in a row, and fought the cowhide opponent with tenacious will, the whole game took more than an hour; the third round threatened the Danish star Neilhof, winning 2:1 again.
The little pawn crossed the river roof of the big car. Zhang Qingwu's heroic performance made the situation in the first half of the Chinese team very good. However, Yang Yang and Xiong Guobao in the lower half of the district suffered a bitter battle, which frightened the Chinese fans watching the game.
Xiong Guobao has been among the world's top players since he defeated Lin Shuijing in the 1986 Thomas Cup to win the cup for the Chinese team, and he is naturally full of ambition to participate in this competition. However, what he did not expect was that the week before the game, he suddenly had a cold and fever, and his state was affected, which made him restless. Against Denmark's Paw Hoyer, Xiong Guobao played abnormally, falling behind 1:7 at the beginning and finally relying on experience to turn the tables over.
Today's Xiong Guobao is committed to nurturing young people
The match between Yang Yang and 19-year-old Indonesian teenager Wei Renfang is an encounter. This nameless youngster of the year and the future Olympic champion almost pulled Yang Yang off the horse. The first two sets of the two sides were 1:1, and Yang Yang, who has always been known for his composure and resourcefulness, used all his skills in the third set to subdue his opponent. Chinese team coach Hou Jiachang praised Wei Renfang, this boy has comprehensive technology, steady and flexible pace, full of offensive power, and the pre-net technology is also extraordinary, especially the fake action on the hand is very realistic and delicate, it seems to be very spirited, in time, it is definitely a fierce enemy of the Chinese team.
There was no upset before the quarter-finals, but on the afternoon of the 22nd, Luo Tianning, who had become a badminton red because of his two wins over Yang Yang, was eliminated by Malaysia's La Sidek. In this way, the main opponent of the Chinese team in the first half is only Frost, and the goal of Xiong Guobao and Sugiato in the second half has become the focus of attention.
From the perspective of strength, Xiong Guobao has the upper hand if he plays Sugiyato normally, at least it is a five-five ball, but his state of this game is really not good, the first two games have been very hard, and his physical strength has been greatly affected. Before the game, Hou Jiachang asked Xiong Guobao how he felt, and Xiong thought for a while and said that if he could win if he could physically, this was obviously a lack of confidence, and Hou Jiachang was quite disappointed in his heart.
Sure enough, Xiong Guobao played very passively in the first set, always passively beaten, and quickly lost the first set at 7:15. The second set didn't pick up much either, and although it caught up at 7:12, the pits dug in front of it were too big to return to the sky.
Xiong Guobao did not hold it, which meant that Yang Yang had to fight Sugiato to the death in the semifinals. And at this time, another bad news came - Zhao Jianhua lost to Frost in the semi-finals!
Regarding Zhao Jianhua, the media all over the world at that time gave him a very high evaluation, believing that he had raised the technology of badminton to an unprecedented height. Malaysia's "Lianhe Wanbao" is even more blunt to say that Zhao Jianhua is the person who makes Frost "daunted", and the competition between the two is the championship battle carried out in advance of this tournament, and Zhao Jianhua is obviously superior.
Zhao Jianhua
However, the result was a big surprise, and Zhao Jianhua lost 0:2. Zhao Jianhua on the field did not have the immortal qi of the past, the tactical use of machinery was rigid, the speed could not keep up with the opponent at all, the number of mistakes was amazing, and the usual sharp backcourt attack could not kill the opponent at all, and it seemed inadequate from beginning to end.
Zhao Jianhua, who had always been free, was hit hard and sat in the stadium for more than an hour. It was later learned that he had inexplicably perforated his eardrum in the week before the game. Watching others prepare nervously, he sat on the cold bench and did not dare to move. The already weak body did not carry out intensive training to engage in a deadly fight, and the opponent was one of the best badminton players on the planet, how could this ball be won?
Zhao Jianhua's defeat has reduced the chinese team's hope of winning the championship from 100% to 40%. Frost defeated his nemesis, and all the Danes felt that the champion was nine out of ten, and they had prepared champagne in advance and prepared for the hero's triumph.
In another semi-final, Yang Yang did not take much effort to cut Sugiato under his horse. This result is not surprising, Sugiato really can't beat Yang Yang, not only is the technical and tactical complete restraint, psychologically it is also absolutely inferior, the more afraid of losing, the more afraid of losing, the more afraid, such a vicious circle he can not get rid of in this life.
Sugiato, who became famous at a young age
Final match: Yang Yang PK Frost. Neither of them had ever won the World Championships, and their desire for a championship was just as strong.
Frost is the unborn genius in the history of badminton, this historical high-caliber student playing almost self-taught, he is the first player in Europe to combine strength and technology, 1.9 meters tall he has a huge range of care, has a natural advantage at both ends of the attack and defense, and his speed and flexibility are no less than Asian players. The future Gad and Anseron are both enhanced versions of Frost.
Yang Yang is the most comprehensive master of the Technical Style of Chinese badminton "fast, fierce, accurate and lively", and the flamboyance of the technology may be worse than Zhao Jianhua, but it is more concisely used. He belongs to the defensive category of the pull-in assault style, with excellent physical fitness, tenacious will quality, and his own kingly spirit on the field. In particular, the ball quotient is superior, the tactics are flexible and changeable, and there are always means to turn defeat into victory on the field. The old fans of that era all had a common understanding - watching Yang Yang play, rest assured.
In fact, the future Lin Dan is actually a strengthened version of Yang Yang. In particular, Lin Dan's technical style in the later stages of his career is very similar to Yang Yang's.
Yang Yang
Before the final, Frost was generally favored, because before he and Yang Yang played seven times, he won five times. For Yang Yang, Frost was his most difficult opponent. However, Yang Yang himself was full of confidence. In this competition, Yang Yang has played a hard battle, after several ups and downs, the state has been completely played, and the semi-final momentum is like a rainbow storm to beat Sugiato, which is even more revealing a full champion appearance.
The final was fought amid the deafening cheers of the Beijing audience. As soon as the first set came up, Yang Yang entered the state extremely quickly, pulling away the assault to fight fiercely, Frost could not keep up with the speed at all, and soon lost 3:15.
Frost
Yang Yang, who was in the first inning, made a big mistake in the second set, trying to make a quick decision, and he was emotionally impatient. Frost used his whole body to fight, in order to save physical strength, he and Yang Yang launched a front-of-net battle. Yang Yang did not return the taste for a while, and he also resigned himself to it, fighting several balls in front of the net in a row, and the result was that he gave away a few points in vain. The two struggled until the end of the inning, and Frost pulled back the set 15-13.
Yang Yang learned the lesson of the second set, did not dare to be careless, and in the third set, he resisted and fought with Frost to open the tactics. After all, Frost is not young, the second set of the bloody physical exertion is too large, the third set from the beginning of the appearance of the weak, soon fell behind 1:10. Yang Yang, who was in a good situation, wanted to make a quick decision at this time, and the quality of the ball was too high, and as a result, he made successive mistakes, allowing Frost to take the opportunity to chase 11 points in a row.
Changing to the other person may have collapsed psychologically at this time, but Yang Yang has excellent psychological quality after all, and he has scored consecutively when leading 13:12, which is finally a narrow victory over the most powerful opponent in his life.
Yang Yang broke through the pass alone, and one person destroyed two heavenly kings, and since then he has become the king of the four heavenly kings. After the game, Hou Jiachang praised his proud disciple, saying that this men's singles match was a real dragon fight. In response to a reporter's question, Hou Jiachang told the secret of Yang Yang's victory, that is, Yang Yang has both technical strength and physical endurance, and victory is to carry forward his own strengths and make up for his shortcomings. Hou Jiachang said that Yang Yang summed up the reason for losing to Frost in the past before the game because the attack was aimless and easy to be impatient. In this game, he can control himself, pull the opponent away first, and then wait for the opportunity to attack. This is easier said than done, it requires a solid technical foundation, but also a strong self-control, and Yang Yang did it, so he succeeded.