Fuzhou:The Chinese badminton team has confirmed Wednesday that 2012 London Olympic men’s doubles champion Fu Haifeng has withdrawn from the China Open to mourn the death of his father who passed away unexpectedly before the start of the tournament.
His father, Fu Mingying, who’s a well-respected coach in the badminton, was Fu Haifeng’s first badminton coach and had great influence over Fu Haifeng’s badminton career.
Fu Haifeng who arguably known for his powerful and lethal smash, previously held the record of the fastest smash in a tournament with 332km per hour at the 2005 Sudirman Cup.
Having had 1 Olympic gold medal and 4 World Championship titles together with Fu Haifeng, his ex-partner Cai Yun has expressed condolences over the death of Fu’s father.
“I texted him and asked him to stay strong, like a man, and hoped he could get through the difficult time with his family,” said Cai Yun.
Meanwhile, Fu Haifeng’s current men’s doubles partner, Zhang Nan, told reporters that Fu is deeply saddened by the loss of his father.
“Fu Haifeng is in pain over his father’s death. He would like to spend more time with his family to deal with the loss of his father,” said Zhang Nan.
Fu Haifeng and Zhan Nan are currently ranked world No. 3 in the latest Badminton World Federation rankings. They have a good chance to move up to world No. 2 by end of the year if they do well in their remaining tournaments.
