Beijing: Although not officially confirmed as of yet, world number 8 Du Pengyu’s last minute withdrawal from the World Championships, being excluded from the Chinese Asian Games squad, did not play in any tournaments after Thomas Cup Finals, and there were no reports of injuries related to him – all signs indicated that he is no longer an active member of the Chinese national badminton team.
Rumors have been swirling about the possibly of his retirement even before the Thomas Cup Finals. His defeat to Kento Momota in the Thomas Cup semi-final appeared to be a fatal blow to his confidence and his passion for badminton.
Du is known for his hard working attitude. Although his career achievement was not as impressive as his compatriots – Lin Dan and Chen Long, the bronze medalist of last year’s world championships has a killer instinct and a competitive edge. His hunger for excellence has caused a lot of headaches to his rivals. He held a 4-4 records against world number two Chen Long, 0-3 records against Lin Dan, and 1-12 record against world number one Lee Chong Wei.
According to an insider, after the 2012 London Olympics, Du was hoping for a shot at Olympic gold in 2016, since Chen Jin already retired from the Chinese national team, and Lin Dan will not likely to stick around until 2016. However, his dream was shattered after the announcement made by Badminton World Federation (BWF) in February 2014 that each country could only send maximum of two singles players to the 2016 Rio Olympics. Which meant only Chen Long and the extremely dominant Lin Dan will be playing in the 2016 Rio Olympics for China.
BadmintonPlanet.com would like to say thank you to Du Pengyu, we really enjoy watching you play except when you are causing too much problems for some of our favorite players :-). Nevertheless, we want to wish you the best of luck for your future life. You are still young, and you must dream your dreams and they may come true!
