Rookies on Fire: China Open Kicks Off with Thrilling Upsets by Chinese Badminton Newcomers

Original title: Sports World | China Open opens today; Chinese badminton rookies perform brilliantly

Workers’ Daily-China Workers’ Network reporter Li Yuanhao and Zhu Yanan

Sports

China Open opens today

The 2024 China Open officially kicked off on September 23, with the women’s singles qualifying competition officially kicking off. Eight Chinese players will challenge the seeded players. Among them, You Xiaodi and Lu Jiajing entered the qualifying competition based on their rankings, while Feng Shuo, Guo Hanyu, Qu Yihan, Zhang Ruien, Wei Zhangqian and Shao Yushan appeared with wild cards.

On the afternoon of September 23, the draw ceremony for the China Open women’s singles main draw will be held at the Clay Garden.

Sports

Manchester City equalizes with Arsenal in the last seconds of the Premier League

On September 22, Beijing time, the fifth round of the Premier League was a focus game. Manchester City played against Arsenal at home. With Stones’ goal in stoppage time, Manchester City tied the opponent 2-2. After this game, Manchester City continued to lead the standings with 4 wins and 1 draw, but only 1 point ahead of Liverpool. Arsenal also remained unbeaten and ranked fourth with a difference of 2 points.

Sports

Barcelona continues to lead La Liga standings

On September 23, Beijing time, Barcelona defeated Villarreal 5-1 in the 6th round of La Liga, and continued to lead the league with a 4-point advantage after this round. Statistics show that Barcelona is the only team in the top five leagues this season with at least two players scoring 5+ goals, including Lewandowski with 6 goals and Rafinha with 5 goals.

Sports

Zhang Zhizhen, Buyun ChaoketMeet in the Hangzhou Open semi-finals

On the evening of September 22, Beijing time, in the quarter-finals of the ATP250 Hangzhou Open, Chinese player Zhang Zhizhen swept Baena 6-3, 6-3 and will face Buyun Chaoket in the semi-finals. This will be the first time that a Chinese derby will be staged in the semi-finals of the ATP Tour.

Sports

Norris wins F1 Singapore Grand Prix

On September 22, Beijing time, the F1 Singapore Grand Prix ended. McLaren driver Norris led the whole race and easily won the championship, Red Bull driver Verstappen and McLaren driver Piastri ranked second and third, and Chinese driver Zhou Guanyu ranked 15th.

Sound Sports

Zheng Qinwen: “Enjoy every game in the Chinese season”

With the China Open about to start, Zheng Qinwen, the women’s singles champion of the Paris Olympics, said at the “Winners’ Home” meeting held by Nike on the 21st, “Enjoy every game in the China season.” Talking about the preparations for the China season, Zheng Qinwen said that her physical condition is good in all aspects and her mentality is relatively stable. “I want to take it step by step and not think too much.”

Sound Sports

Choi Young-hee: “First of all, you need to get your mind right”

Choi Young-hee, a Chinese player who just signed with the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association (NBA), said that he would calm down and start with defense. Choi Young-hee admitted that he was not sure about his future prospects in the NBA and that he had to adjust his mindset first. “My mindset is actually quite positive. I don’t know how many years I can play here, how many years I can stay here, or how far I can improve. But I only know that the longer I can stay here, the more help it will be to myself and the team (the Chinese men’s basketball team).”

Sound Sports

Kompany: “The pressure to win and play well is always there”

On the evening of September 21, Beijing time, in the fourth round of the new Bundesliga season, Bayern Munich defeated Bremen 5-0 away, continuing the impressive record of winning all competitions this season. According to statistics, Bayern scored 29 goals in the first six games under the new coach Kompany, setting a record for the first six official games of the new coach since the team was promoted to the Bundesliga. “The boys played very well. For us, the pressure to win and play well is always there.” Kompany admitted in an interview after the game, “If it can be like today, it will be a good thing for us. The atmosphere on the scene was very good. For us, it was just a wonderful game.”

Poly Forum

The rookie performed brilliantly!

China Open: Chinese badminton team wins 4 titles and 2 runner-ups

On September 22, the 2024 China Open Badminton Championships came to an end in Changzhou, Jiangsu. The Chinese badminton team entered all five individual finals at home and eventually won 4 championships and 2 runner-ups.

Olympic champions Chen Yufei, Chen Qingchen, Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong continued to be absent from this tournament, and the top seeds in men’s singles and men’s doubles Shi Yuqi and Liang Weikeng/Wang Chang were eliminated early. Against this background, the performance of some rookies of the national badminton team was eye-catching. The champions of the four individual events all won the highest-level BWF World Tour championship for the first time, and all achieved breakthroughs in their personal careers.

On September 22, Weng Hongyang celebrated his victory. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Yang Lei

In the women’s doubles, the Chinese badminton team continued to maintain its advantage, winning three of the top four spots and securing the gold medal in advance. Li Yijing/Luo Xumin, born in 2002, won the World Junior Championship together. In this match in Changzhou, the two defeated the No. 6 seed Chen Kangle/Tina, who had a strong momentum after the Olympics, the runner-up Liu Shengshu/Tan Ning of the Paris Olympics, and the No. 8 seed Zheng Naen/Kim Hye-jung, and entered the Super 1000 level final for the first time, and finally reversed the new Chinese badminton team Li Wenmei/Zhang Shuxian to win the championship.

The 25-year-old national badminton “No. 4 men’s singles” Weng Hongyang performed amazingly. He led almost the entire final and eventually defeated Japanese player Naraoka Kodai 2-0 in two straight sets, winning his first individual Super 1000 men’s singles championship. His personal ranking will be greatly improved. Weng Hongyang last won the championship at the Super 500 level Korea Open two years ago. This time in Changzhou, he won his first high-level championship, which is very helpful for improving his self-confidence.

Wang Zhiyi, a female singles player born in the 2000s, also performed well. She is ranked fifth in the world. In the final, she defeated the former World Youth Championship champion, 18-year-old Japanese teenager Miyazaki Yuka 2-0. This season, she has won 4 championships and 1 runner-up. This is also the first time that a Chinese female singles player has won the championship at home since Li Xuerui won the championship in 2015.

Mixed doubles No. 2 seeds Feng Yanzhe/Huang Dongping overcame an unfavorable start and reversed the Malaysian “dark horse” Goh Xunhua/Lai Jiemin 2-1 to win their third title of the season. In the two tournaments after their comeback, the “Phoenix” combination successfully entered the finals, showing a good game state and upward momentum.

Unfortunately, He Jiting/Ren Xiangyu, who advanced to the men’s doubles quarterfinals alone, lost to the Malaysian pair Goh Shi Fei/Izuddin in the final due to Ren Xiangyu’s back injury recurring at the end of the first game, which affected their competitive state and eventually led to a reversal by their opponents. However, the “Any” combination defeated the No. 2 seeds Astrup/Rasmussen and former World Championships bronze medalists Wang Yaoxin/Zhang Yuyu, and fought to the end of the final with injuries, still defending the honor of the Chinese men’s doubles.

On September 22, He Jiting (right) and Ren Xiangyu were in the competition. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Bo

China Open is the highest-level tour event with the highest prize money points after the Paris Olympics, representing the beginning of a new Olympic cycle. At the beginning of the new cycle, the replacement of the old and the new in the Chinese badminton team has been accelerating, and the “post-00” players have gradually taken up the banner. After Shi Yuqi was eliminated in an upset, Lei Lanxi “retaliated” against Anders Antonsen and Weng Hongyang defeated Antonsen and Jonatan successively, allowing the Chinese badminton team to win the men’s singles championship of the China Open again after 7 years; with He Bingjiao retiring and Chen Yufei adjusting, Han Yue and Wang Zhiyi both won championships at the beginning of the new cycle, allowing China’s women’s singles to have successors; the young Li Yijing/Luo Xumin combination has become a rising star after the “Fan Chen” split with more tacit cooperation and a younger and more energetic style of play; although the mixed doubles combination Jiang Zhenbang/Wei Yaxin failed to advance to the top 8 in this station, they performed well in the two stations after the Paris Olympics, winning the championships in the Japan Open and Hong Kong Open. Their continuous growth also makes people look forward to taking up the responsibility in the new Olympic cycle.

But at the same time, we should also note that men’s singles player Lu Guangzu has been eliminated in the first round in three of the last four tournaments, and his form continues to be sluggish; the Japanese teenager Miyazaki Tomoka who broke into the women’s singles final is only 18 years old. She just won the women’s singles gold medal at the World Youth Championships and will be a formidable rival of the Chinese badminton team in the future.