Li Junhui/Liu Yuchen, the "lone seedlings" of the Chinese badminton team in men's doubles, won the silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics and were able to overcome difficulties and reach the finals. The performance of this "post-95s" pair in their first Olympics was remarkable. Recen

Li Junhui / Liu Yuchen (right) won the silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics. Photo/Xinhua News Agency

Chinese badminton team men's doubles "lone seedlings" Li Junhui/Liu Yuchen won the silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics. They were able to overcome difficulties and reach the finals. The performance of this "post-95s" pair in their first Olympics was remarkable. Recently, Liu Yuchen, a young man from Beijing, accepted an exclusive interview with a reporter from Beijing News. He shared the gains from his trip to Tokyo and faced the regrets of the final night. During the Paris Olympics cycle, he and his partners will continue to struggle and strive for the highest podium.

surprise

celebrated his birthday by qualifying early in the group stage

The men's doubles is the only single event in the Olympic Games where the national badminton team has not received a full quota. Liu Yuchen and Li Junhui have been mentally prepared for "fighting alone" during the preparation period. The two and the coaching staff The strategy we formulated is still "play one game at a time". "We haven't played a game in more than a year, and we don't know each other very well with our opponents, so we still have to be ourselves and play our rhythm and state." The results of the

group draw are released. Later, Liu Yuchen predicted that the game with the German combination Lansfuss/Sidel would be a key battle for them to qualify for the group. It happened that this game was arranged on the birthday of a Beijing boy. He and his partner were well prepared and actively mobilized on the court. They ushered in two consecutive victories with a 2-0 victory and qualified early. They also gave themselves a birthday gift. Although

participated in the Olympics for the first time, Liu Yuchen admitted frankly that he did not feel too much pressure in the group stage. "In the knockout rounds, I started to get a little nervous, and I still had some ideas." He and his partner faced Denmark's Aspen in the quarter-finals. Trapp/ Rasmussen knew that his opponent belonged to the " people come crazy " type, so he made the most difficult preparations. "European players will be extremely excited if they are obsessed with one thing. In the first game, they really beat us a bit, but we still withstood it without any chaos. We insisted on playing more shots with our opponents. We can win by one point. One point." In the end, Li Junhui/Liu Yuchen won two games in a row to complete the reversal.

In Liu Yuchen's view, the Olympic semifinals are a hurdle in themselves: "There is actually a big difference between losing and winning. If you win, you will at least get a medal; if you don't win, you have to go to the bronze medal match. If you lose again, the pressure will be even greater." But he I still ask myself to stay calm and focus on the game itself. "Prepare as before, watch the opponent's game video, and communicate with your partner on the details on the court." Opponent Malaysia 's Xie Dingfeng / Su Wei translated The top seeds Gideon / Sukamulyo were eliminated in the previous round and were in very good condition. However, Li Junhui/Liu Yuchen were able to let go and advanced to the final with 24-22 and 21-13.

Tokyo Olympics final, Liu Yuchen (front)/Li Junhui lost to Chinese Taipei combination Li Yang/Wang Qilin. Picture/Xinhua News Agency

Review

The Olympic finals could have performed better

reached the finals without being favored. Liu Yuchen and Li Junhui surprised the outside world and had more expectations. However, the finals with Chinese Taipei combination Li Yang/Wang Qilin, The performance of Guoyu "Twin Towers" exceeded many people's expectations. Liu Yuchen also told the Beijing News reporter that this final was something he had never encountered in his badminton career. “Maybe not playing for more than a year still has some impact. There were some mistakes in the final. Looking back, we can definitely do better. Good. But at that time, we were not able to complete the change so quickly. Our opponents had participated in several games at the beginning of the year and accumulated confidence and experience. They were more confident about the situation on the court than we were. "

In the past month, he has been able to calmly review the game and find the reason for the loss. "After losing the first game, we were eager to recover the score, but instead made more mistakes. In addition, the opponent also rolled the tennis ball twice, and the point difference was widened." The feeling of being beaten on the court left a deep impression on this young man. "We are desperately trying to find a way, but what we get back is not ideal. And the opponent is so much ahead and is very relaxed. They don't need to play a lot of continuity at all, they just fight with us every beat. We are afraid of making mistakes, but we also want to score. , in fact, it is a very tangled and anxious state."He also thought that if there was a live audience, it might be more helpful for him and his partner to mobilize themselves, but he soon understood that in the final analysis, he still had to make himself stronger.

stood on the runner-up podium, the sadness of the two "post-95s" It was beyond words. After walking off the podium, the two only had some simple communication. The tacit understanding between them since youth competitions meant that there was still a little stubbornness in Liu Yuchen's heart: "There are more men. You still have to carry it yourself. "

After the baptism of the Tokyo Olympics, Li Junhui/Liu Yuchen have strengthened their confidence in winning the gold medal in Paris. Photo/Xinhua News Agency

Outlook

are confident of winning the gold medal in the Paris Olympics

As the Tokyo Olympics cycle begins, the national badminton men's doubles enter the new and old alternation period. Throughout the process, Li Junhui/Liu Yuchen quickly emerged as the most stable partners in the team, and became among the world's top men's doubles players, winning World Championships , Thomas Cup , and Sudirman Cup. Witnessing the growth and progress of the "Twin Towers" combination, Liu Yuchen feels that playing with his partners is also a process of maturing. "I am no longer as impetuous as when I was a child. I am very happy when I win, and very frustrated when I lose." Now I know better where I win and where I lose, I look at victory and defeat more rationally, and I no longer have huge emotional fluctuations. We will no longer dwell on the results that have already happened and cannot be changed, but learn to sum up the experience of failure and do better next time. "

In an interview with Guoyu's official social media, the "Twin Towers" expressed their hope for better performance in the Paris Olympics. When Liu Yuchen looked forward to the next Olympic trip in three years to the Beijing News reporter, He also responded positively to “Do you want to upgrade the silver medal to a better color?” The young man said: “First of all, after experiencing this Olympics, I want to help the Chinese men’s doubles team reach the top podium again and win glory for the country. Even more intense; personally speaking, to put it bluntly, we are only one Olympic gold medal away from each other, and we have won all other competitions. "

Compared with the other four individual events, the men's doubles pattern in the world badminton is more complex and more random. This can be seen in the Tokyo Olympics: the top two seeds are both Indonesian combination, and are also considered favorites to win, but the top seed Kyrgyzstan Dean/Sukamulyo stopped in the quarter-finals, while veteran Ahsan/Setiawan lost in the bronze medal match. The most powerful single event of the Indonesian team ended up with nothing, which further confirmed that the top men's doubles combinations have reached the competition. What matters is performance on the spot. After his first Olympic experience, Liu Yuchen has a deeper understanding of this point: "Any pair that can stand in the Olympics is an opponent that we need to fight with all our strength. "

A new Olympic cycle has begun. The "Twin Towers" of the national badminton team who have been trained in Tokyo have further strengthened their goal of hitting the highest podium. "This is also the motivation to encourage us to train harder." " Liu Yuchen said.

Beijing News reporter Liu Chen

editor Han Shuangming proofreader Chen Diyan