Shuttle towards promising future

Hopes are high as China's badminton team set to fight against all the odds on way to the 2024 Paris Olympics

Without superstars like retired legend Lin Dan and BWF Hall of Famer Zhang Ning, a new generation of Chinese badminton players are fighting hard to repeat the glory of their predecessors on the international stage. Impressive performances over the course of 2022 indicate that the young Team China is heading toward a promising future.

Team China's aces finished the 2022 season by pocketing three gold and three bronze medals at the BWF World Tour Finals in Bangkok in early December. While Team China conducted a golden sweep in the doubles, it struggled to reach the top step of the podium in the singles.

"We've been together for almost nine years, and gold at the finals is the best prize for all of us. We have encountered many difficulties on our journey, but I never thought about giving up," said Chen Qingchen, who partnered with Jia Yifan, won the women's doubles gold at the finals. The world No 1 women's pair maintained a consistent performance throughout 2022.

"When we first started our partnership, I thought about the many possibilities that lay ahead. And we have been working hard to make those possibilities a reality for a long time. Now I just want to enjoy the moment. Actually, we don't need to think too much about the results. As along as we fight the hardest we can, we will have no regrets."

Another golden pair is Chinese mixed doubles aces Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong, who also claimed top spot at the finals. It's the 10th gold medal finish that the pair have achieved last year.

"What an amazing year 2022 has been, I just want to thank everyone who's been with us," Zheng wrote on social media after the pair's win at the finals. And Huang posted: "A happy ending to 2022."

To deliver such great performances throughout last year was nearly an unthinkable goal for the pair at the start of the season. After pocketing silver at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Zheng and Huang struggled for months, which resulted in the pair's separation. But even with new partners, the two still couldn't find their groove.

Zheng and Huang rekindled their partnership in March, almost immediately finding the chemistry that had so far eluded them, claiming 10 international titles in the 2022 season and producing an impressive winning streak of 38 games. In December, Zheng and Huang were both bestowed with BWF Player of the Year Awards.

"We could feel the pressure from the crowd at the finals. We had to constantly adjust our mindset, focusing only on our games. Most of the time, we could only hear each other on the court, despite all the noise. We are happy to meet the expectations of the fans, and this is truly a happy ending," said Huang.

The biggest surprise at the finals was actually the young gold medal-winning Chinese men's doubles pair Liu Yuchen and Ou Xuanyi. The pair only started their partnership in March, yet they made five international tournament finals this season, winning three golds. The duo is now considered to be a promising medal hope for Team China at the Paris Olympic Games in 2024.

"We're very happy to win the championship, it was one of our goals. And we're so thankful to the fans for always cheering for us," said 27-year-old Liu.

"This is a good way to the end the year for us, and puts us in a good frame of mind for 2023. Our hard work has been rewarded. We were leading (in the final) but made many mistakes. We were able to readjust in time, and in the third game we kept our focus to win.

"This is the first year of our partnership. We played better in the second half of the year, but we still have a lot of room for improvement."