Team China secured the women’s singles gold medal at the Badminton Asia Championships on Friday, with He Bingjiao set to take on Wang Zhiyi, and Olympic champion Chen Yufei playing against Han Yue in the semi-final round. Meanwhile, with Chinese men’s duo Liu Yuchen/Ou Xuanyi securing a second berth in this category for China, the Chinese badminton team have qualified for the Paris Olympics with full quota.
Fifth seed He overcame South Korea’s world number one An Se-young with a hard-fought victory of 21-17, 21-18. Her semi-final rival Wang came back from one game down to beat Japan’s Aya Ohori 15-21, 21-12, 21-11.
“I had lost to her seven times in a row before this match, so I prepared a lot for today’s competition. I was very patient on the court and tried to make fewer mistakes. That’s how I managed to win,” said He after eliminating an injury-hit An.
“She played very well. She showed a lot of confidence today. I don’t think I can beat that,” said An.
Second seed Chen outclassed Indonesia’s Gregoria Mariska Tunjung 21-16, 21-19. Han stormed to a victory over Japan’s highest-ranked Akane Yamaguchi in straight games.
While Chen has an Olympic berth in hand, the other three players will need to fight for China’s other women’s singles berth through this tournament. He, Han and Wang are currently ranked 6th, 7th and 9th on the Badminton World Federation (BWF) tally.
In other actions on Friday, China’s top seed Shi Yuqi and Li Shifeng advanced in the men’s singles. Shi downed Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn in straight games, and Li denied Indonesia’s Anthony Sinisuka Ginting’s hope of defending his title with a 21-9, 21-10 victory.
In the men’s doubles, Liu and Ou secured their Olympic berth despite losing to Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia 21-14, 21-15, thanks to Lee Yang/Wang Chi-lin of Chinese Taipei’s defeat to Malaysia’s Goh Sze Fei/Nur Izzuddin.
In the women’s doubles, Olympic silver medalists Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan survived a scare from Rena Miyaura/Ayako Sakuramoto of Japan to win the match 21-10, 18-21, 21-19.
In the mixed doubles, top seeds Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong swept past Tang Chun-man/Tse Ying-suet of Hong Kong, China 21-11, 22-20 to advance.
The tournament runs until April 14, and is the last chance for Asian shuttlers to qualify for Paris 2024.