The badminton courts in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, witnessed a thrilling start to the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Finals as Chinese shuttlers secured six victories and suffered three defeats on the first day.
In men's singles, home favorite Shi Yuqi showcased his resilience by defeating Indonesia's Jonatan Christie with scores of 21-16, 17-21, 21-8. Reflecting on his performance, Shi remarked, \"I won because I played with better patience. My opponent is great on both offense and defense. I have learnt my lesson from our previous battle. I tried to do better in transition.\"
However, not all matches went as planned for the Chinese team. Li Shifeng faced a tough challenge against Denmark's top seed Anders Antonsen, resulting in a 2-1 loss (21-14, 21-19).
The women's singles event saw remarkable performances from Chinese athletes. No. 1 seed Wang Zhiyi triumphed over Thailand's Busanan Ongbamrungphan with scores of 21-19, 21-14. Additionally, second-seeded Han Yue narrowly defeated Japan's Akane Yamaguchi, securing victory at 21-19, 21-17. Commenting on their progress, Liu stated, \"We are still in the process of gradually learning from our experiences in major events.\" Tan added, \"As young players, we face opponents who are older than us and approach each match with a mindset focused on challenging them and learning from them. Therefore, I believe that being Olympic runners-up and world number one means little to us.\"
In men's doubles, the pair He Jiting and Ren Xiangyu experienced a comeback loss against Malaysia's Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik, with scores of 21-17, 18-21, 15-21.
On a positive note, China's women's doubles teams delivered strong performances. Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning overcame India's Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand Pullela in a thrilling three-set match (20-22, 22-20, 21-14). Meanwhile, Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan dominated Japan's Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi with a straight-sets victory of 21-11, 21-17.
The mixed doubles category featured an all-Chinese showdown between Jiang Zhengbang and Wei Yanxin against Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong. Jiang and Wei emerged victorious with scores of 21-17, 22-20.
Despite some setbacks, the Chinese team remains optimistic and determined to leverage these experiences to excel in upcoming matches.
Reference(s):
Chinese shuttlers begin World Tour Finals with six wins, three losses
cgtn.com
