In May this year, Guoyu defended the Sudirman Cup in Suzhou.
The 2023 BWF Year-end Finals recently ended in Hangzhou, and the latest world rankings were released. Compared with the ranking at the end of last year, it can be seen that the Chinese badminton team has almost improved its ranking in each individual event, occupying three world No. 1s, and it should be said that in 2023, the national badminton team has signs of full recovery, in addition to winning the individual championships of a number of tour events, the performance in the team competition is also remarkable, such as defending the Sudirman Cup, winning the men's team championship and the women's team runner-up at the Hangzhou Asian Games. If this trend continues and the state is stable and improving, the national team will make a big difference in the Paris Olympics.
At the end of 2022, although the national feather has two rankings ranked No. 1 in the world, namely the "IELTS" combination Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong and the "Fanchen" combination Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan's women's doubles, the ranking in other individual events is not satisfactory, the highest is Chen Yufei, who is ranked fourth in women's singles, and no one can even rank in the top five in men's singles and men's doubles. The men's doubles top-ranked Liu Yuchen and Ou Xuanyi barely made it into the top 10, while the men's singles was even more miserable, with the highest Lu Guangzu only ranked 16th, which is not the same as the Lin Dan and Chen Long era of the Chinese men's singles highlights.
Li Shifeng (right) won the Asian Games.
However, just when many badminton fans were worried, Guoyu has made great strides in 2023. In terms of the most representative men's singles, post-00 Li Shifeng has made the most obvious progress, and winning the championship at the All England Open, the oldest in history, is his masterpiece this year. The Hangzhou Asian Games is a stage for the world's top masters to compete in addition to several famous Danish players, and Li Shifeng won the championship without losing a game, almost establishing the status of the new national feather brother. This year, Li Shifeng's world ranking jumped sharply from 26th last year to No. 5, and the highest was ranked third in the world. Veteran Shi Yuqi moved from 31st at the end of last year to 7th, and Weng Hongyang advanced from 32nd to 19th.
Chen Yufei maintains a high level.
Four of the women's singles players are ranked in the top 10 in the world, and the most representative is still Olympic champion Chen Yufei. Although she was at a disadvantage in the competition with the world's No. 1 South Korean talented female player An Seying throughout the season, especially the loss in the Asian Games final was very demoralizing, it was up to Chen Yufei to end An Seying's 28-game winning streak at the Japan Masters. She has won four senior tournament titles throughout the year, moving up from fourth place last year to second place, and defending her title with a win over An Seying in the final of the Sudirman Cup in May, and the 25-year-old still has potential to tap. The rest of the national feather women's singles players who entered the top 10 are He Bingjiao, Han Yue and Wang Zhiyi, and the national feather women's singles is slowly gaining a group advantage.
The three doubles events are all ranked No. 1 in the world, which is surprising. Let's talk about the most significant progress in men's doubles, after 6 years, two young national players Leung Wai Keng and Wang Chang finally made the national feather men's doubles event No. 1 in the world again, they won three high-level tour championships this year, replacing the "Twin Towers" pair Liu Yuchen Ou Xuanyi, and became the national feather men's doubles No. 11。Although the performance is not stable enough, I have vaguely seen the demeanor of Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng from the two of them.
Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan won the year-end finals.
Fan Chen" Chen Qingchen Jia Yifan continued to play strongly, although there were occasional mistakes, but the two won eight championships in various competitions in the season, won the only championship for the national feather at the World Championships, and ranked No. 1 in the world for the fifth time in their careers, and the stability is still quite good. The mixed doubles ranking is still the "IELTS" combination, although the two are not as amazing as the 38 consecutive wins after reuniting last season, they can win five championships in the Tour + Finals and rank No. 1 in the world for the fifth time.
1. The Asian Games championship record is almost the same as that of "Fan Chen", and it is the most representative combination of the national badminton doubles event. Their only regret was that they lost to their old rival Choi Yoo-hyun of South Korea in the mixed doubles final of the World Championships, and failed to defend their title.
Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong left regrets at the World Championships.
Overall, the national feather has made great progress in 2023, the veterans are still strong, and the newcomers are constantly growing. To say that it is insufficient, it is a little regrettable that only one championship was won at the World Championships, and the Asian Games women's team final defeated the South Korean team in a bad standard. In addition, in the Sudirman Cup, the Chinese feathers also encountered danger, almost lost to the old rival Japan team in the semi-finals, and almost failed to enter the final.
Looking at Paris, Zhang Jun, chairman of the Chinese Badminton Association, once said that the national badminton should have the strength to reach the finals in all five individual events, and aim for all the gold medals. In retrospect, this is an ambitious goal, but it is still difficult. Especially in the men's and women's singles, Anselm and An Seying are still the biggest obstacles to the national feathers, and the men's doubles also has many contenders. However, as long as the national feather moves forward steadily according to the current momentum, there is still great hope for 2-3 gold "guarantees" at the Paris Olympics.
Wen Beiqing Sports Liu Ailin.