On October 9, 2021, Beijing time, the BWF Thomas Cup and Uber Cup were held in Aarhus, Denmark. The opening match of the Uber Cup was played by China against Canada, according to the lineup previously announced by both sides:
Singles No. 1: He Bingjiao vs Li Wenshan
Doubles No. 1: Li Wenmei / Zheng Yu vs Hong Deliqi / Cai Wanting
Singles No. 2: Wang Zhiyi vs Rachel Chen
Doubles No. 2: Liu Xuanxuan /Xia Yuting vs Crystal/Thalia
Singles No. 3: Han Yue vs Zhang Wenyu
In the first game, he Bingjiao, ranked 9th in the world, played against Li Wenshan, who was ranked 11th in the world, according to the paper strength of the two sides, it should be indistinguishable. In the first set, Li Wenshan made more mistakes, and it took only 11 minutes for the two sides to win 21-12. During the intermittent suspension, Li Wenshan communicated with the coach and referee and chose to withdraw from the game. In this way, He Bingjiao only played the first set and helped the Chinese team score the first point.
In the second game, the "language" combination of the Chinese team (Li Wenmei/Zheng Yu) played against the Canadian team of Hongdrić/Cai Wanting. In the first set, the opponent was obviously ill-prepared and made many mistakes, and the "language" combination seized the opportunity to quickly win the first set 21-10. Yi Bian fought again, and the Canadian combination found a lot of form, and even led the Chinese team 11-10 into a technical gap. Back from the timeout, the "Language" combination sped up the offensive pace, taking the game away with a wave of streams and winning the second set 21-12. Helped the Chinese team extend the score to 2-0.
In the third game, Wang Zhiyi, a young Chinese youngster who has made his debut in the BWF's top competition, played against Canada's Rachel Chen. At the beginning of the game, the youngster was obviously nervous, with many mistakes and inconsistent playing styles, and was taken into a technical gap by his opponents 11-9. After the suspension came back, the youngster slowly adapted to the rhythm of the game, and after the two sides were deadlocked to 19-19, Wang Zhiyi scored two consecutive points to win the first set 21-19. In the second set, the youngster obviously adapted to the intensity of the game, and various techniques and tactics were also played, easily winning 21-13, thus helping the Chinese team to lock in the victory.
According to the rules of the game, the group stage will be played in five games, so although the Chinese team has won 3-0. However, the last two games of the second-double and three-singles still have to be played, and the representative of the Chinese team is the young players Liu Xuanxuan/Xia Yuting and Han Yue. I hope that the young players will let go of their nervous emotions, play well, train well, and be fully prepared for the next knockout rounds!