11 On November 12, Chinese badminton team men's doubles world champion Li Junhui posted on personal social media that he retired due to injury, which also marks that Chinese badminton team men's doubles famous "two towers" combination will no longer appear in domestic and foreign stadiums. Another "tower" among the "two towers", Beijing Young Man Liu Yuchen , was in a state of restoration due to hip surgery after National Games . He was not selected for the national badminton team Sudiman Cup and Thomas Cup , and will not participate in the World Championships held in Spain in mid-December. Although his original partner chose to retire, Liu Yuchen, who is only 26 years old and has good talent and skills, is far from leaving the national team. He needs to recover from injuries and re-establish the peak of world badminton.
At the Tokyo Olympics in August, Liu Yuchen and Li Junhui reached the finals all the way, but lost to a pair of Chinese Taipei combinations, failing to realize their dream of winning gold in the Olympics. However, in Tokyo, 4 of the five competitions participated by the National Badminton team were "double insurance", and only Liu Yuchen/Li Junhui fought alone in the men's doubles competition. For both athletes who are participating in the Olympic Games for the first time, being able to reach the finals in the men's doubles event where the national badminton team does not have the dominance, also reflects their strength.
html In the National Games in September, although he had just finished his quarantine period and did not conduct systematic training, Liu Yuchen and Li Junhui are the best athletes in the national badminton men's doubles, the winner of the World Championships. Their years of partnership have made the two have a very high tacit understanding, which to a certain extent made up for the shortcomings of insufficient training, and the two reached the finals again. Unfortunately, the two had the same problems in the finals as in the Olympic finals. The headwind ball was not handled well and lost to Zhejiang combination Wang Chang / Zhou Haodong , and ranked second in two consecutive competitions. Liu Yuchen said in an interview with Beijing Youth League-Beijing Headlines reporters after the National Games final that he will not participate in several major events of the national badminton team in the second half of the year and he will have hip surgery. Li Junhui also suffers a lot of injuries and needs rest. Liu Yuchen's sister and champion of the 2009 Rome Swimming World Championships, Liu Jing, also told Beijing Youth Headlines reporter that in a simple way, his younger brother's injury is that one side of his hip falls off, which means that neither legs are long on the same side. Training and competition are all based on tenacity and persistence, so hip surgery is imperative and you can't wait any longer.
Li Junhui/Liu Yuchen won the World Championships in 2018
In fact, after the National Games, many media and fans have noticed that the "two towers" combination of the national badminton team may be broken up, and with the long personal retirement article posted by Li Junhui, this speculation has become a reality.
According to Li Junhui, in the 2017 competition, he suffered nearly 3 degrees of acute meniscus injury in the right knee joint, as well as contusions in the distal femur and proximal tibia. Moreover, his 18-year sports career has brought him many injuries, including habitual small joint disorders and dislocation of the thoracic spine, synovitis of the right first metatarsophalal joint.
"Although it has improved significantly after multiple treatments, it has not been cured. Every time the training intensity increases, old diseases often recur, so it is difficult for me to complete the overall training plan arranged by the coach like other players in the team." Li Junhui said that the competition in the world's badminton men's doubles is very fierce now, and high-intensity training is the basic guarantee of victory. However, due to his injury, he cannot complete the normal training plan of the national team. For this reason, Li Junhui's own thoughts and spirit are often troubled. So he made the decision to retire at the age of 26, which is a pity.
"Two Towers" are demolished, what is the prospect of the men's doubles in the Chinese badminton team? In the Sudiman Cup and Toms Cup , He Jiting /Zhou Haodong became the number one combination of men's doubles. Veteran Liu Cheng paired with Wang Yilu , and also got a chance to play. However, the new men's doubles combination did not show enough dominance in the soup cup, and even failed to maintain a complete victory in the group stage. At the Spanish World Championships in December, four pairs of national badminton men's doubles will be sent to participate, namely He Jiting/ Tan Qiang , Huang Kaixiang /Liu Cheng, Ou Xuanyi/ Zhang Nan , and Wang Chang/Di Zijian.But given the strength of these four pairs, it is not optimistic to win the World Championships.
Feng Yanzhe (left) and his senior brother Liu Yuchen have a certain tacit understanding
Of course, Liu Yuchen still has a chance, and he cannot "disappear" so soon. With Li Junhui retired, Liu Yuchen needed a new partner after recovering from injury and recovering from training. Given the achievements of the previous "two towers" combination, the Chinese badminton team is choosing a new partner for him that matches all aspects, striving to form the "two towers" of the Chinese badminton team again to enrich the team's current doubles combination form. This candidate is actually already available. The young man is also from Beijing. He is Feng Yanzhe, who is 1.95 meters tall as Liu Yuchen.
Feng Yanzhe is Liu Yuchen's teammate in Beijing Badminton Team . Although he is just 20 years old, he has won the mixed doubles championship in World Youth Championship, and the runner-up of men's doubles in the national championship. In the Sudiman Cup match in October, Feng Yanzhe was shortlisted for the national badminton roster and got a chance to play in the group stage, eventually becoming the first post-00s world champion in the national badminton 2000s. In addition, Feng Yanzhe is also a good player in mixed doubles, and can compete in both men's doubles and mixed doubles.
If the two can really match successfully, fans can look forward to the emergence of the new "two towers" combination and create the glory of the national badminton men's doubles again. Whether it is the Paris Olympics or the next National Games, they are worth looking forward to.
text/Beijing Youth League-Beijing Headlines reporter Liu Ailin
Source: Beijing Headlines client
