Shanghai: The Chinese badminton team departed from Shanghai Pudong Airport Sunday afternoon to participate in the Sudirman Cup championships which will be held from September 26 to Oct 3 in Vantaa, Finland.
In this year’s Sudirman Cup, the badminton powerhouse China which has won 11 out of the last 16 editions of the Sudirman Cup, will be spearheaded by mostly young players, including the Tokyo Olympic women’s singles champion Chen Yufei, Tokyo Olympic mixed doubles champions Wang Yilyu/Huang Dongping, as well as Shi Yuqi, Liu Cheng, Chen Qingchen, Jia Yifan, Du Yue, Zhou Haodong, He Bingjiao, Lu Guangzu, He Jiting, Tan Qiang, and Zheng Yu.
Chen Long, who was the Tokyo Olympic men’s singles silver medalist, and the Rio Olympics gold medalist, alongside Tokyo Olympics men’s doubles and mixed doubles silver medalists – Li Junhui/Liu Yuchen, Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong did not participate at the Sudirman Cup competition.
The 32-year-old Chen who lost in the semi-finals of China’s National Games last week has stated he needed some time off to stay with his family and to recover from injury.
Meanwhile, the absence of Li Junhui/Liu Yuchen and Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong was a little surprising, but it also gave young Chinese players such as Li Shifeng, Wang Zhiyi, Feng Yanzhe, Liu Xuanxuan, and Xia Yuting a precious opportunity to compete at the Sudirman Cup.
Before departure, these young players said that although they were under pressure, they were also very excited. If they were given the opportunity to take the court, they would try their best to score a point for China.
The goal of the Chinese team was to defend the title and to get ready for the Thomas Cup and Uber Cup Finals that will be held in Aarhus, Denmark one week after the Sudirman Cup final, from October 9th to 17th.
