The 2023 China Badminton Masters determined five individual champions yesterday in Shenzhen. The Chinese team finished with three championships. Liang Weikeng from Guangzhou and his Zhejiang partner Wang Chang defeated India's strong pair Lanciredi/Shetty 2-1 in the men's doubles final, winning their fourth championship of the season. Next, Guoyu's next stop will be the BWF World Tour Finals held in Hangzhou from December 13th to 17th. At that time, world number one Liang Weikeng/Wang Chang will participate in the men's doubles event as the top seed.
After winning the championship, the national badminton team knelt down to celebrate
This year is the first time that Shenzhen has hosted the China Badminton Masters, and the Chinese team has sent all frontline main players to participate. Among the five individual events, the Chinese team advanced to the finals in three events, including mixed doubles, women's singles, and men's doubles. The final spots in the men's singles and women's doubles events were all arranged by the Japanese team.
In the mixed doubles final, Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong defeated South Korean pair Xu Chengzai/Cai Youting 2-0 to win their sixth championship of the season. Chen Yufei withdrew from the match with her teammate Han Yue after a 1-1 draw, and she won the women's singles championship.
Faced with the top seed and strong Indian duo of Rancheredi/Shetty, Leung Wai Keng/Wang Chang spent 71 minutes in the men's doubles final, winning 21-19, 18-21, and 21-19. This is the fourth championship won by world number one Liang Weikeng/Wang Chang in the 2023 season. Liang Weikeng/Wang Chang previously won the men's doubles championships at the India Open, Thailand Open, and China Open.
Liang Weikeng/Wang Chang are the most eye-catching young men's doubles duo for the Chinese team to enter the Paris Olympic cycle. They skyrocketed the world ranking from 400 to first place in just one and a half years. Their most outstanding achievements in the 2023 season include winning the championship for the Chinese badminton men's doubles at the China Open in September, 22 years later. However, at the men's doubles stage of the Hangzhou Asian Games, they were highly anticipated and turned the tables. In the round of 16, they faced South Korean pair Choi and Kim Won ho. In the decisive game, they led 19-13 and 20-18, but ultimately lost by a margin of two points, 21-23, and missed the quarter finals.
Less than two months later, Liang Weikeng/Wang Chang once again encountered a great situation in the final of the men's doubles at the China Masters, where they were continuously chased by their opponents for points. The difference is that they did not give their opponents a chance to reverse this time, and after being chased to a score of 20-19, they struck the nail on the head with a score of 21-19.
After winning the championship, this pair of Guoyu born in the 2000s knelt down excitedly to celebrate. Liang Weikeng revealed that he was a bit impatient in the last few points, but in the end, he gave the phone a chance. Later, they calmed down and restarted the game as if it were a 0-0 draw, successfully winning one point. Wang Chang explained that the reason why they were so excited after winning the championship was because they felt that it was not easy to win. This situation of being chased after points in the decisive game was not the first time they encountered it, and being able to persevere until the end to win was a recognition of them. Because they suffered a disastrous comeback at the Hangzhou Asian Games not long ago, they also envisioned how to deal with similar situations when they were preparing for the competition yesterday. Despite the change in mentality, they did not repeat the same mistake this time, which is also a gain from this competition.
