Zhengzhou: After eight days of fierce competition, the dust has finally settled as the Zhejiang and Hubei teams were crowned men’s and women’s team champions at the 2021 China National Badminton Championships which also served as the badminton preliminaries for the Fourteenth National Games of China that will be held in Shaanxi, from Sep 15 to Sep 27, 2021.
Playing against the Fujian team which was without the Rio Olympic champion, Chen Long, the Zhejiang team got off to a strong start as World No. 28 Huang Yuxiang managed to defend strong smashes from Wu Kaian of Fujian, winning the first point for Zhejiang by beating Wu 21-18, 21-16.
The Fujian team also didn’t play the 2017 men’s doubles world champion, Liu Cheng, in the men’s doubles matches. Instead, they fielded Han Chengkai/He Jiting and Huang Kaixiang/Ou Xuanyi.
In the first men’s doubles match, the World No. 17 men’s pair Han Chengkai/He Jiting of the Fujian team didn’t disappoint by beating Xie Haonan/Wang Yilu of Zhejiang 10-21, 21-18, 21-13 to level the overall score to 1-1.
However, Zhejiang was able to seal the tie by winning the next two matches as Ren Pengchang beat Wu Songjian 21-18, 21-6 in the second men’s singles match and Wang Chang/Zhou Haodong beat Huang Kaixiang/Ou Xuanyi 21-14, 21-12 in the second men’s doubles match.
The women’s team final was a one-sided affair when the Hubei team outlasted the Fujian team 3-0 to clinch the title.
In the first women’s singles, Hubei sent Wang Zhiyi to take on the teenage player from Fujian, Tan Ning, and the two sides fought hard until the rubber game. After losing the first game 19-21, Wang Zhiyi won the next two games 21-17, 21-16, and finally scored the first point for the Hubei team.
Meanwhile, Du Yue/Li Wenmei were dominant to defeat Yan Chenxue/Chen Yingying 21-9, 21-19 in the first women’s doubles match.
In the second women’s singles match, the teenager from the Hubei team, Ruan Xinyue, made her debut in the China National Games and completely controlled the rhythm, as she wasted no time to beat Wu Jiashu, 21-13, 21-10 to seal the victory for Hubei.
