On December 13, Shi Yuqi was in a match with Denmark's Viktor Axelsen. Courtesy of Visual China.
The 2023 BWF World Tour Finals kicked off in Hangzhou on December 13. In the first round of the men's singles match that night, Chinese player Shi Yuqi defeated the current men's singles world No. 1 Danish star Viktor Axelsen again after six years, becoming the biggest highlight of the day's competition.
In this finals, Shi Yuqi fell into the group of death, in addition to Axelsen, there are also Indonesian star Ginting and this year's World Championships men's singles runner-up - Japan's Kodai Naraoka.
In the first match against the world's No. 1 Axelsen, and the eight consecutive defeats against Axelsen in the past six years, Shi Yuqi is not favored. But Shi Yuqi, who played in the mourning army, played at a high level, and he withstood the pressure and won two thrilling 21-19 victories. Shi Yuqi said after the game that the main thing in this game is to do his best.
In the other matches played on the day, most of them had no accidents, and the biggest upset came from South Korea's Ahn Se Ying, who is currently ranked first in the world in women's singles, lost 0:2 to teammate Kim Ga-eun.
*: China Youth Daily client.