Global Times.
Global Times Special Reporter Xu Yunfeng] As the year-end pinnacle of the world badminton world, the BWF World Tour Finals kicked off in Hangzhou on the 13th, and the total prize money increased to the highest in the history of badminton events to 2.5 million US dollars. The Chinese team, which won three titles in men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles last year, is the only team to participate in the full quota with 10 quota places in their home stadium. The Chinese team has Tokyo Olympic champions Chen Yufei and Huang Dongping, 4-time World Championships women's doubles champion Chen Qingchen Jia Yifan, 3-time World Championships mixed doubles champion Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong and other famous players, as well as women's singles player Han Yue, the world's No. 1 men's doubles pair Liang Weikeng Wang Chang, women's doubles pair Liu Shengshu Tan Ning and other 7 new faces who started their journey to the finals for the first time. The team's goal is to seize the opportunity of this world-class training to prepare for next year's Paris Olympics.
On the 11th, Huang Yaqiong and Zheng Siwei were in training.
Chen Yufei fought in his hometown
The BWF World Tour Finals is the highest level of the tournament system, and only the top 8 players in each of the 39 tournaments on the tour, as well as the individual champions of the World Championships that year, are eligible to compete. According to the rules, 8 players (groups) in each individual event are divided into two groups, and each group will first conduct an intra-group tour, and the top 2 will advance to the semi-finalsAfter the top 4 are released, the top winners of each group will be split and then the opponent will be drawn.
The draw for the five individual events was held on the 11th, and the Chinese team had two (group) players in the women's singles, women's doubles, and men's doubles being placed in the same group, while the men's singles and mixed doubles were divided into different groups to avoid staging the "Chinese Derby" in advance. In the women's singles, China's Chen Yufei and Han Yue are both in Group B, and the opponents in the same group are former Spanish world No. 1 Marin and Chinese-American Zhang Beiwen. Chen Yufei, who won the championship in the 2019 year-end tournament, appeared in her hometown of Hangzhou this time, and whether she can reach the top again after 4 years has attracted much attention.
In the men's singles, two Chinese players, Shi Yuqi and Li Shifeng, were drawn in Group A and Group B respectively. Shi Yuqi's opponents in the same group include Japan's Kodai Naraoka, Indonesia's Ginting and world No. 1 brother Axelsen;Li Shifeng is in the same group as Indonesia's Jonatan, Denmark's Antonsen and this year's world champion Kunlavut. If they want to qualify from the group, Shi Yuqi and Li Shifeng both theoretically need to win at least two wins to have any hope of qualifying.
China's Women's Doubles pair Chen Qingchen, Jia Yifan, Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning were all placed in Group A, alongside Japan's Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara, as well as Indonesia's Rahayusiti. The two men's doubles pairs of the national team, Leung Wai Hang and Wang Chang, and last year's champions Liu Yuchen and Ou Xuanyi are both in Group A, along with Malaysia's Chia Ting Feng and So Wei Yi, and Japan's Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi. The duo had a stellar 2023 season, winning four World Tour titles, including two at home at the China Open and China Masters, and their performances in Hangzhou are worth watching.
Mixed doubles is the dominant event of the national feathers, with the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds Feng Yanzhe, Huang Dongping, Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong in Group A and Group B respectively. Among them, Feng Yanzhe and Huang Dongping's group opponents have stronger comprehensive strength, including Japan's strong Yuta Watanabe, Arisa Higashino, and Thailand's strong Dechapol Sasiree. Last year's champion Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong's main opponent is this year's world champion, South Korea's Seo Seung-jae and Choi Yoo-hyun.
The focus of world badminton is in Asia
The distribution of qualifications for the five individual events in this year-end finals also reflects the power map of the world badminton today. Judging from the number of shortlisted players and the number of participating events, the center of gravity of world badminton is still in Asia, and East Asia is the core region. In men's singles, except for Denmark's Viktor Axelsen, the remaining seven players are all Asian faces. There are only two non-Asian players in the women's singles - Ma Lin and Zhang Beiwen. In Men's Doubles, Denmark's Astrup Rasmussen was the only pair from outside Asia. Eight tickets each for the mixed doubles and women's doubles were swept by the Asian team. According to statistics, there are a total of 40 seats in 5 individual events in this year-end finals, and the Asian Legion won 36, accounting for 90%. Among them, the total number of seats for the three teams of China, Japan and South Korea is 22, accounting for more than half.
The South Korean team won three gold medals in women's singles, men's doubles and mixed doubles at this year's World Championships, and they won seven quotas in the women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles in the year-end finals. The 21-year-old has had an impressive season with 10 women's singles titles, including gold medals at the World Championships and the Hangzhou Asian Games. However, she has not had a good record in the last two tournaments on tour - losing to Chen Yufei in the quarterfinals of the Japan Masters and the round of 16 at the China Masters.
South Korea ** expects An Seying, who is currently injured, to reproduce the "Hangzhou Asian Games Miracle" this time. There are also Korean media who believe that An Xiying's biggest rival on the way to the women's singles championship in the year-end finals is still Chen Yufei, who lost the gold medal battle in the Asian Games at that time and must want to turn the tables in the year-end finals.
Axelsen is the main attraction in the men's singles
Defending men's singles champion Viktor Axelsen has won five tournaments this year, including the Malaysia Open, India Open, Japan Open, China Open and Japan Masters, as well as the European Championships gold medal in early July. Britain's "Insider" said that Axelsen was the main attraction of the men's singles field in the year-end finals.
The Japanese team, which has a good lineup, originally had players in all five individual events this time, but the women's singles "first sister" Akane Yamaguchi withdrew due to injury. The doubles front will be a breakthrough for the Japanese team to win the championship, and the women's doubles pair of Mayu Matsumoto, Kakana Nagahara, Naomi Matsuyama and Chiyo Shida, the mixed doubles pair of Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino, and former men's doubles champions Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi should not be underestimated.
Southeast Asia's traditional badminton powerhouses, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand all have multiple groups of people to reach the finals this time. Malaysia's "Sin Chew**" recently wrote that if the World Tour Finals are regarded as an indicator of the development of badminton in Malaysia in the past six years, Malaysian badminton is obviously facing a serious recession. Since the 2018 World Tour Finals replaced the Superseries Finals, no Malaysian player has been able to reach the top of the tournament. World No. 3 Malaysia's number one men's doubles player Hsieh Ting Fong So Wei Yi is participating in the year-end finals for the fourth time, hoping to advance from the group to the semi-finals. In the duo's view, all eight men's doubles groups will have a chance to win the championship, and the competition will be fierce.