The 6-day 2023 Wickdo China Open Badminton Tournament recently concluded the finals of 5 individual events in Changzhou, Jiangsu. The Chinese badminton team won the men's and women's doubles championships at home and basically completed the last "mock exam" before the Hangzhou Asian Games.
Overall, apart from Denmark, France has shown a clear upward trend in Europe, while Asia is undoubtedly dominated by a tripartite relationship between China, South Korea, and Japan, as well as Indonesia and Malaysia. This also means that China's trip to the Asian Games will not be easy.
The world badminton scene has changed
Except for the men's singles and men's doubles, the three individual champions of this tournament are consistent with the recently concluded World Championships, and the performance of the top players remains dominant.
On September 10th, Liang Weikeng gave his racket to the stands after the game. On that day, in the men's doubles final of the 2023 China Open Badminton Championships held in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, Chinese pair Liang Weikeng/Wang Chang defeated Malaysian pair Xie Dingfeng/Su Weiyi 2-0 to win the championship. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Bo
Danish Olympic champion An Sailong and South Korean superstar An Xieying defended their world number one ranking, respectively winning the men's and women's singles championships; The female duo seed Chen Chenchen/Jia Yifan easily defeated the Korean duo Bai Hena/Li Shaoxi to the top; The men's doubles champion belongs to the world's third ranked Chinese badminton duo Liang Weikeng/Wang Chang; South Korea's New World Championships champions Xu Chengzai/Cai Youding won mixed doubles.
Of course, some new faces also appeared in the final. In the men's singles arena, Chinese player Lu Guangzu, ranked 15th in the world, defeated his teammates Li Shifeng and Shi Yuqi, who ranked higher than him, and advanced to the final of the BWF Super 1000 tournament for the first time in his career. Although ultimately defeated by Olympic champion Ansailong, his performance is still commendable. "We need to summarize this competition, find the feeling of winning, and then continue this state to have better performance in the later matches," said Lu Guangzu.
On that day, in the men's doubles final of the 2023 China Open Badminton Championships held in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, Chinese pair Liang Weikeng/Wang Chang defeated Malaysian pair Xie Dingfeng/Su Weiyi 2-0 to win the championship. Photo by Yang Lei, Xinhua News Agency reporter
The French mixed doubles duo Gickel/Del Luz knocked out the world's second ranked Japanese duo Yoshida Watanabe and Yusha Higashino 2-0 in the quarterfinals. In addition, the French team has multiple players competing in multiple individual events.
At the Sudirman Cup in May this year, the performance of the French team was impressive, with some French athletes even saying, "I feel like badminton is France's number one sport." As the Paris Olympics approach, the French team continues to invest in badminton. If this can drive the popularity of badminton in Europe, it is undoubtedly a good thing for the global promotion of this sport.
On site confrontation is clean and decisive
The five individual finals on the afternoon of the 10th will start at 1 o'clock, and the competition sequence will be mixed doubles, women's doubles, women's singles, men's singles, and men's doubles. Coincidentally, the results of all five finals were 2-0, which made the audience feel unsatisfied.
