As the 2021 World Badminton Championships approaches, Li Junhui, the number one national badminton men's doubles player and Tokyo Olympic men's doubles runner-up, announced her retirement on social media yesterday. This means that the "Twin Towers" combination that has worked tog

As the 2021 World Badminton Championships approaches, Li Junhui, the number one national badminton men’s doubles player and Tokyo Olympics men’s doubles runner-up, announced her retirement on social media yesterday. This means that the “Twin Towers” ​​combination that has worked together for eight years has officially disbanded, and her partner Liu Yuchen has also Will miss next month's World Championships in Huelva, Spain.

Compared with his predecessors in the national badminton men's doubles, Li Junhui's announcement of retirement at the age of 26 was indeed unexpected, but injuries made him unable to complete his normal training plan. "In 2017, I suffered an acute meniscus injury of almost 3 degrees in my right knee during a Super League match, combined with bone contusions on the distal femur and proximal tibia. My 18-year sports career has caused habitual small joint disorders and dislocations in my thoracic spine; right Synovitis of the first metatarsophalangeal joint, etc. Although it improved significantly after multiple treatments, it has never been cured. Every time I increase the intensity of training, the old disease often relapses, so it is difficult for me to complete the overall tasks assigned by the coach like other team members. Training plan."

Li Junhui wrote on Weibo, "Nowadays, the competition in men's doubles in the world badminton is very fierce, and high-intensity training is the basic guarantee of victory. However, I am unable to complete the normal training plan of the national team because of my injury. For this reason, my own mind and spirit are often extremely troubled.”

Since losing to the Chinese Taipei pair Li Yang/Wang Qilin in the Tokyo Olympics, the number one men’s doubles pair in the national badminton competition has been rumored to have been underperforming. At the meeting, the "Twin Towers" combination once again won the silver medal with a score of 0-2, losing to the young national defenders Wang Chang/Zhou Haodong of the Zhejiang team. Since then, the "Twin Towers" combination has missed all major competitions such as the Sudirman Cup and Thomas Cup.

The Tokyo Olympics finals were accused of lacking passion and not much communication, and the two stood far apart at the awards ceremony. Although criticism of the Twin Towers combination was widespread, Li Junhui specifically mentioned his partner when saying goodbye, " Thanks to my partner Liu Yuchen, my lifelong good friend and good brother." Liu Yuchen also responded in a long post, "We have worked together for a total of eight years since we were young... We have had many differences and unpleasantness, but we have. In the end, we will go all out."

The "Twin Towers" combination currently ranked fourth in the world will become history, and Guoyu is exploring new possibilities for the men's doubles combination. At the Sudirman Cup, He Jiting and Zhou Haodong, both born in 1998, created sparks when paired for the first time, helping the Chinese team win the team gold medal. In the next Thomas Cup, the two were entrusted with important tasks. The men's doubles teams competing in the World Championships this time are He Jiting/Tan Qiang, ranked 22nd in the world, Liu Cheng/Huang Kaixiang, ranked 24th, Ou Xuanyi/Zhang Nan, ranked 27th, and Wang Chang/Di Zijian, ranked 41st. Men's doubles has a long way to go in the Paris Olympics cycle.

Author: Wu Shu

Editor: Gu Miao