First of all, we would like to talk about China's Ginting and Li Shifeng, two young talents who performed well in the group stage of Men's Singles and Women's Singles respectively, and advanced to the semi-finals as group winners. They all have high hopes that they can win the championship for the Chinese team and even make history. Did you know?Ginting is the first player in Chinese men's singles history to reach the year-end finals, while Li Shifeng is the second Chinese women's singles player to reach the semi-finals after Li Xuerui. Their opponents, Indonesia's Jonatan and Chinese Taipei's Tai Tzu Ying, are both strong opponents in the top three in the world, but they have both been beaten by Ginting and Li Shifeng. Therefore, these two semi-finals are considered to be five-five matchups, and anyone can win.
However, it backfired, with both Ginting and Li Shifeng suffering heavy defeats in the semi-finals. Ginting was pinned down by Jonatan in the first game and lost 13-21. In the second game, although Ginting fought back, he was still unable to stop Jonatan's strength and lost again 18-21. Throughout the game, Ginting's form was clearly not good, and he played at his level. He wasn't sharp enough in attack and solid enough defensively, often making mistakes and passivity. Jonathan, on the other hand, used his speed and power to control the tempo of the pitch and not give Ginting any chances. This match, which was also Ginting's third defeat to Jonatan this year, shows that he still needs to improve mentally and tactically in order to compete with the Indonesian rival in the future.
Li Shifeng's experience is not much better than that of Ginting. She played very fiercely with Dai Ziying in the first game, and the two sides went back and forth, and once the battle was tied at 20. However, at the critical moment, Li Shifeng made two mistakes in a row, allowing Dai Ziying to take the lead 22-20. In the second game, Li Shifeng seemed to have been hit, his form declined, and he was easily won by Dai Ziying 21-13. Throughout the match, Li Shifeng made a lot of mistakes on her serve and in front of the net, while Dai Tzu Ying exerted her speed and changes, constantly creating pressure, making Li Shifeng unable to adapt. This game is also the fourth time that Li Shifeng has lost to Dai Tzuying this year, which shows that she still needs to improve herself psychologically, technically and tactically in order to compete with this strong Taiwanese opponent in the future.
The exit of Ginting and Li Shifeng greatly reduced the hope of the Chinese team for the championship, and also made countless fans feel regret and regret. They are all the future stars of Chinese badminton, with unlimited potential and possibilities. Their performance in the year-end finals, although there are some regrets, there are also many highlights, which proves their strength and progress. They are still young and have many opportunities, as long as they are not discouraged, do not give up, and continue to work hard, I believe they will be able to win more honors for the Chinese team and bring more surprises to the fans in the future arena.
In addition to the regrets of Ginting and Li Shifeng, there is another shocking result in the year-end finals, that is, the total annihilation of the Japanese men's doubles. Did you know?Japan are the favourites for this year's year-end finals with three pairs in the field: world No. 1 Daiyu Endo, Yuta Watanabe, world No. 2 Takeshi Kamura Keigo Sonoda, and world No. 4 Yugo Kobayashi and Takuya Nakajima. They are both the best men's doubles players in the world, with a wealth of experience and excellent technique, and are considered the strongest contenders to win the title. However, they suffered back-to-back defeats in the group stage, with no pair able to reach the semi-finals, setting an incredible record.
Endo Watanabe is Japan's leading figure in men's doubles, having won five World Tour titles this year, including the All England Open and the World Championships, and is the dominant figure in men's doubles. Their opponents in the group stage are Indonesia's Ahsan Hendra, China's Han Chengkai Zhou Haodong, and Malaysia's Goh Wee Seung Tan Wee Keong. They are considered to be the strongest in the group and have a big advantage. However, they lost to Ahsan Hendra in the first game, losing 19-21 and 18-21. In the second game, they lost to Han Chengkai and Zhou Haodong again, losing again 17-21 and 19-21. In the third game, although they easily defeated Wu Weisheng and Chen Weiqiang 21-15 and 21-16, they could no longer help and could only exit the group as the third place.
Throughout the group stage, Watanabe Endo was obviously not in good shape and played his own level. Their offense wasn't sharp enough, and their defense was often misleading, leading to easy scoring. In the crucial match with the Indonesian Minions, they completely lost their rhythm and lost 0:2 and missed the semifinals. Japan's number one men's doubles pair, who are also the home team of the Tokyo Olympics, is undoubtedly a big pity.
Endo's defeat to Watanabe also reflects the overall slump in Japan's men's doubles. In addition to them, Japan also had two men's doubles pairs in the tournament, but neither of them made it to the semi-finals. Kamura Sonoda lost to China's Lee Jun Hui and Liu Yuchen and South Korea's Choi So Gyu Seo Seung Jae in the group stage and finished third in the group. Zong Gong Pan Jidi Tra Gong also failed to advance to the semi-finals after losing to China's Lu Jingyao Yang Bohan and Indonesia's Su Wei Yi Xie Dingfeng in the group stage.
Japan's men's doubles performance was in stark contrast to their results at the 2019 BWF World Tour Finals. At that time, both Watanabe Endo and Sonoda Kamura reached the semi-finals, and in the end, Watanabe Endo also finished second. Now, two years later, the Japanese men's doubles seems to have lost the sharpness and fighting spirit of the year, and their dream of gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics has been shattered.