The Paper's reporter Pu Yaolei
The Kuniwa Sudirman Cup defeated Japan to win the championship.
In 14 days, two gold and one silver, the task of the national feather competition was temporarily over.
Since the Tokyo Olympics in July, Kuniwa has experienced the four-fold test of the Olympic Games, the National Games, the Sudirman Cup, and the Thomas Uber Cup – especially in the consecutive Sudirman Cup and Tonyou Cup competitions, Kuniwa has won the sue cup (team) and Uber cup (women's team), and the Thomas Cup (men's team) has won the runner-up, and in terms of record, it has completed the task well.
But the challenges faced by the men's team are more severe than those of the revived women's team – but it must be admitted that the men's team, which is in the post-Olympic transition period, is far from the best form.
The results of the two championships and one asian championship are enough to become a good start to the Paris Olympic cycle.
The national women's team won the Uber Cup for the 15th time.
"To die is to die on the field"
At the Tokyo Olympics, Kuniwa won a total of 2 gold and 4 silver medals, the highest number of medals among the Olympic teams, and these two gold medals were attended by female athletes.
Chen Yufei won the gold medal in women's singles, and Wang Yilu/Huang Dongping won the gold medal in mixed doubles. Now that they have come to the team stage of the Su Cup and the Tang You Cup, the national women's team still continues to be strong on the field.
In the earlier mixed-men Su Cup matches, the national women's team became the "savior" of the team several times. The final game of the group stage against Thailand and the quarter-final against Denmark have both games in danger of losing points in the men's singles and men's doubles.
Chen Yufei.
At the critical moment, the players of the national women's team withstood the pressure, twice helped the team to pass the danger 3-2, and finally successfully defended the title, lifting the 12th Sudirman Cup championship in the history of the team.
In the subsequent Uber Cup, the performance of the national women's team was also reassuring enough - a 3-0 victory over Chinese Taipei in the quarterfinals, a 3-0 victory over Thailand in the semi-finals, and a 3-1 victory over Japan in the final to regain the championship trophy lost in the previous edition.
The national women's team also completed the amazing 15 crowns of the Uber Cup, continuing to set a badminton record.
Chen Qingchen said, "To die is to die on the field."
Chen Yufei played poorly in the last Uber Cup, the team was eliminated by Thailand in the semi-finals, and after taking back the trophy this time, Chen Yufei was finally released: "I don't want to suppress it anymore, I want to release myself, and I have no regrets to enjoy this championship." ”
Jia Yifan, who played in the women's doubles, said, "Chen Qingchen (partner) told me when he came on the field that he was open-minded, and he was going to die on the field, and he must hold up the trophy with the whole team." ”
Indeed, this time the championship is a victory for the team. In the Uber Cup final, Chen Yufei lost to Akane Yamaguchi, but the excellent performance of his teammates still made the champion not fall by the wayside, which is also a proof of the overall strength of the current national women's team.
Kuniwa, now very united.
There are regrets, there are gains
Compared with the joy gained by the national women's team in the Uber Cup final, the national male team on the Thomas Cup left a trace of regret.
In the final, the national men's team lost 0-3 to the champion favourite Indonesia, missed the championship, missed the 11th soup cup championship in the history of the team, and failed to achieve its desire to defend the title.
I have to admit that the injury of Shi Yuqi, the first single of the Chinese men's badminton team in the semifinals, has obviously had an impact on the overall strength of the team. The two singles matches in the final were world no. 27 Lu Guangzu against No. 5 Jin Ting and No. 65 Li Shifeng against No. 7 Jonathan Christie.
In both matches, both Chinese players played tenaciously and brilliantly for a period of time, each taking the next set from the opponent, but the overall lack of experience still paid the tuition.
New men's doubles duo He Jiting/Zhou Haodong.
However, in the repeated grinding, the replacement of the old and the new is gradually completed - li Shifeng, a young player born in 2000, had previously defeated Thailand's famous Quinravut, who had lost five times in a row and had not won a set in the quarterfinals against Thailand.
In the semi-final against Japan, he defeated the world's 13th-ranked Kenta Tokiyama in a 1-1 overall score.
In terms of doubles, The strongest Olympic duo of Guoyu, Li Junhui/Liu Yuchen, did not go abroad with the team, and the Su Cup and Tang You Cup also became a stage for Guoyu to exercise and try new pairing combinations.
From the perspective of actual combat, the new men's doubles combination He Jiting / Zhou Haodong has not yet possessed the world's top strength, but it has also shown enough potential, the new Olympic cycle, and there is more time for national feathers.
Shi Yuqi's self-description.
Isolate off-site distractions and focus on protecting yourself
In fact, at the Tokyo Olympics, Kuniwa has already blown a new wind - only Chen Long has participated in the Olympic Games in the list of participants in the Olympic Games. But even so, this team full of newcomers still became the biggest winner of badminton medals at the Olympic Games.
After the end of the Tokyo Olympic cycle, the replacement of national feathers is still continuing, and veterans such as Chen Long fade out predictably, while the new generation of players need to continue to pick up the beam in more competition tests in the future.
In the men's singles, Shi Yuqi has proven himself in international competitions many times, and the only thing to worry about is the impact of injuries.
A torn ankle ligament at the Indonesia Open in July 2019 and three subsequent repeated surgeries have had a huge impact on his tokyo Olympic preparations.
Shi Yuqi and netizens "line up".
Until now, Shi Yuqi has also been plagued by injuries and has not been able to reach his best state - in the semi-final of the Soup Cup, he abandoned the game in the face of Momota Kendou, which caused fans to be dissatisfied... Later, Shi Yuqi also tweeted and questioned his netizens "on the line."
As the leader of the current national feather men's singles, Shi Yuqi's most important task is to isolate off-field interference and focus on protecting his body.
As long as he can do this, he will still be the core figure of The National Feather – although Yu Cup lost to Momota due to injury, his performance in defeating his opponent in the Sudirman Cup final is the best proof.
Young general Li Shifeng.
Through the training of sudirman cup and Tang You cup, more newcomers have begun to emerge - in addition to Li Shifeng of the men's singles, there are also many newcomers such as Weng Hongyang, Di Zijian/Wang Chang. The women's team's Wang Zhiyi, born in 2000, Han Yue, born in 1999, and Liu Xuanxuan/Xia Yuting, the "post-00s" women's doubles player, also got the opportunity to compete and exercise.
Especially when the group stage is against opponents who are not particularly strong, Guoyu has sent new talents to accumulate experience in the competition, and this kind of training is exactly what they need in the process of growing up.
The experience and harvest of the Su Cup and the TangYou Cup is a good start, and the next big game task of The National Feather is the World Championships at the end of the year, when it is also hoped that more surprises will be presented in front of the fans.
After all, it is too early to say that Guoyu has regained its hegemonic position, but this temperament is something that we have endured for a long time. Three years later in Paris, the First World War was known.
Editor-in-Charge: Ascendas
Proofreader: Zhang Liangliang