How much can a badminton match burn? Not long ago, the Sudirman Cup gave the answer.
China Badminton Team defeated Japan 3-2 in the semi-final in the Sudirman Cup World Badminton Mixed Team Championship in 2023 (hereinafter referred to as "Su Cup"), and then defeated South Korea 3-0 in the final to achieve the "three consecutive championships" of Su Cup.
The China badminton team fought for seven hours in the game of reversing the Japanese victory, and finally achieved a comeback, which is legendary. Relevant insiders told China Newsweek that this was a "great reversal" example that could be recorded in the history of China badminton team.
Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan, who witnessed this reversal and finally won the championship together with the China Badminton Team, have returned to Chengdu Shuangliu Table Tennis and Badminton Base and started preparing for the Hangzhou Asian Games.
After training, they recalled the trip to China Newsweek.
Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan helped Guoyu advance to the final of the Soviet Cup. Photo/Zhongxin Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Bo
Try again 100 times, and you may not win.
May 20th is the semi-final day of the Soviet Cup, and the China badminton team will face the old rival Japanese team.
In the first match of that day, the China Badminton Team did not send Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong, who ranked first in the world, but Feng Yanzhe/Huang Dongping, who ranked seventh in the world. Because "IELTS Team" used too much physical energy to beat Indonesian team hard before, but Feng Yanzhe/Huang Dongping met Japanese team Yamashita Gongping/Shinohara Cailiu twice, and both won.
Contrary to expectations, Feng Yanzhe/Huang Dongping failed to beat their opponents as expected to continue their record of total victory, and the total score of China badminton team fell behind 0-1.
In the subsequent men’s singles competition, Shi Yuqi, ranked tenth in the world, played against Nara Okada, ranked third in the world. Shi Yuqi reversed the victory and tied the total score of both sides to 1-1.
In the women’s singles competition, Chen Yufei, the world’s fourth Tokyo Olympic champion, lost to Akane Yamaguchi, the world’s number one, and China’s total score was 1-2 behind Japan.
In the next men’s doubles competition, Liu Yuchen and Ou Xuanyi, the men’s doubles team, were once pushed to the edge of the cliff. They fell behind at 16:20 in the deciding game, and if they lost another point, they would lose the men’s doubles point, while the Chinese national badminton team would also stop the semi-final with a big score of 1-3 and miss the Su Cup championship.
Many spectators at the scene began to leave, thinking that the fate of China’s semi-final exit could not be rewritten. Many viewers in front of the TV also turned off the TV.
The commentator said at that time: "China is facing four match points when the whole team is out! Will miracles happen? We are waiting for a miracle. "
The combination of Liu Yuchen and Ou Xuanyi was reversed. Photo/Zhongxin Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Bo
Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan clearly remember that Liu Yuchen/Ou Yiyi said to himself before playing: "We will win this point and then let you play."
But when they saw their opponents holding four match points, Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan began to feel complicated and tangled.
"We are very unwilling. We really hope that our teammates can create miracles, but according to the normal situation, we have a hunch that it is difficult to catch up." Chen Qingchen said that he and Jia Yifan were really ready to take the racket back into the bag.
But then, the miracle that Honggang expected really appeared.
The Japanese team only needed one more point to advance, and returned the ball out of bounds three times in a row, so that the Liu Yuchen/Ou Weiyi team scored three points in a row. With the score approaching, Liu Yuchen/Ou Weiyi also completely let go of their hands and feet. They fought more and more bravely and scored 3 points, completing a magical reversal on 22-20.
Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan really came out, and helped the China badminton team finally win.
In the semi-final, the China badminton team played for nearly seven hours before defeating the Japanese team, and in the final, it took three and a half hours to win the championship from the Korean team.
"After the game, everyone resumed and thought that if we played the game against Japan 100 times again, we might not win, but now we won!" Jia Yifan told China Newsweek that in his national team career, there have been many thrilling games in the past, but there has never been a game like this one in which teammates "pulled back" the fate of the team when they were so far behind.
"In fact, we are also very sober. This Su Cup is the first stop of the Paris Olympic Games. It is very exciting to win the championship, but we still have to start from scratch. We also hope that all our teammates can realize their highest dreams in the Paris Olympic Games." This is Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan’s voice.
Su cup can’t be lost.
In Chen Qingchen’s view, the reason why the China badminton team can withstand such pressure is to start from the preparation before the Su Cup.
This year, the Su Cup was held in Suzhou, China, which was the first badminton world competition held in China in three years after the international sports events returned to normal order. Zhang Jun, chairman of China Badminton Association, gave the whole team a "vaccination" at the preparatory meeting of the Su Cup: "The pressure of this competition will definitely be great, and all players and coaches should try their best to eliminate interference and concentrate on the field."
Chen Qingchen recalled: "At the end of April, we also participated in the Asian Championships in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. From the end of the Asian Championship to the opening of the Su Cup, it is less than two weeks, about 10 days of preparation. Under normal circumstances, players should adjust for a few days after the end of the last race, but in order to prepare for the Su Cup, almost everyone did not adjust, so they directly went into the Su Cup to prepare for the war. "
Jia Yifan thinks that the Soviet Cup is different from the Tokyo Olympic Games. "In the Tokyo Olympic Games, Chen Qingchen and I didn’t win the gold medal in the women’s doubles, but in our opinion, it is also a good result to try our best to win the silver medal. We didn’t lose anything. The Su Cup is different. The China Badminton Team has been the champion for a long time, and we were once a member of the previous Su Cup champion team. If we lose, the final feeling is that we once had it, but this time we lost it in our hands. "
In May 1987, the Board of Directors of the International Badminton Federation was held in Beijing, at which it was decided to set up the World Badminton Mixed Team Championship from 1989. In memory of Dick Su Diman, the founder of Indonesian Badminton Association and former vice president of International Badminton Federation, and to thank him for his contribution to the world badminton, the champion cup of this competition was named "Sudirman Cup".
Since the 4th Sudirman Cup in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1995, China has shown a strong dominance in the Su Cup. Counting this championship, China won 13 championships, including one for four consecutive championships, one for six consecutive championships and one for three consecutive championships.
In the memory of Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan, I lost the Su Cup on the Australian Gold Coast in 2017 and failed to achieve seven consecutive championships, which is always my own heart.
Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan fought in the Su Cup. Photo/Zhongxin Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Bo
In Chen Qingchen’s view, the Su Cup can be reversed and finally won, which is the result of the failure and the experience and promotion of all the national badminton players over the years. "Numerous large and small events in the middle have enabled this team to accumulate more experience, which has also improved everyone’s experience and pressure."
After the match against the Japanese team, Jia Yifan watched the video of the men’s doubles chasing points at the last minute. "I see the slow motion captured by the camera, and I feel that there is a blaze in the eyes of Liu Yuchen and Ou Xuanyi, which is a state of selflessness. In that state, both of them will no longer pay attention to the score, nor will they think about the consequences if the China badminton team loses at home and loses the championship. At that moment, they certainly don’t have any other thoughts. Therefore, we must also do it without distractions to win. "
In addition, the relationship of unity, trust and mutual tolerance among teammates of the national team is also the "password" for the national team to achieve a great reversal.
"Every round of the Sudirman Cup team competition is a three-win system of five games. Regardless of the semi-finals and finals, the opponents are also very high-ranking and very powerful opponents, which means that there may indeed be losses and wins during the competition. After all, no one dares to clap his chest and say that the China team can beat their opponents 3-0 every game, so there will be a fault tolerance rate in such a game. " Chen Qingchen told China Newsweek.
"Like Yu Fei and Dong Ping, although we didn’t get points in the semi-final, the feelings between us are very good, and it is impossible to complain about the teammates who lost points. On the contrary, we will try our best to forget the previous results, try our best to make up for our teammates and regain the advantage for the team. This time, some of them lost points, and we came to the top. Then next time, it may be that we lost points and they came to the top. "
She laughed when my hands and feet were cold.
According to official public data, the box office of this Su Cup is about 30 million yuan, and Guoyu fans have a huge momentum. Jia Yifan revealed: "We started from the hotel to participate in the competition, or returned to the hotel after the competition, and fans always called our names at the door of the hotel. Many fans and friends gave me private messages and rushed to grab tickets, saying that they would spend huge sums of money to watch our game … "
The cheering of fans, the concern of family members and the expectation of the media have invisibly put more pressure on the athletes. The nature of the Sudirman Cup team competition also makes it easy for every athlete to bear the burden of "wanting to win and being afraid of losing", fearing that his poor performance will drag down the team and be accused of "pulling his legs" by the outside world.
Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan both said that they were under great pressure before the game.
"From the first day I came to Suzhou, I was in a tight state until Chen Yufei won the championship with the last ball landing team in the final, and I felt relieved from the pressure." Chen Qingchen recalled.
In Jia Yifan’s eyes, partner Chen Qingchen is a person with a strong sense of national honor and collective honor. She revealed that during the more than 10 days of preparation for the Sudirman Cup, Chen Qingchen was really pressured by "only winning but not losing" and had too many tears.
"She is not satisfied with the quality of training, crying; Poor sleep quality, crying; Thinking that the game is 2-2 may not be able to stand the pressure, or cry. " In the face of Jia Yifan, whose partner is under pressure and is the team’s happy fruit, there is no good way.
"The women’s doubles match was scheduled for the last game. Our performance may determine whether the team can move on and decide the ownership of the champion. If we don’t perform well, no one can remedy it later, so we are really afraid of dragging our feet on this group. " Chen Qingchen said. "I always put pressure on myself like this, and the effect may not be good, but as Jia Yifan said, I made the difficulty to the extreme before the game, and I didn’t think it was difficult when I encountered difficulties again in the real game."
Compared with Chen Qingchen, Jia Yifan chose another way to go out for a walk. "I wanted to find a bookstore to visit, but I ended up in a lottery shop. 30 yuan had a scratch, and I scraped out 300 yuan." Jia Yifan was in a good mood in an instant, and his training state increased greatly.
Chen Qingchen also felt "beaming" emotionally. She also listened to Jia Yifan’s suggestion, went to the bookstore to buy a book and went back to the dormitory to read it. Her mood was much calmer and she completed the final stage of high-quality preparation.
Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan often observe teammates such as Chen Yufei and Shi Yuqi. Before the big game, teammates were struggling together.
Jia Yifan observed very carefully. "You see Chen Yufei, even if she won the Olympic champion, she is also in a state of pressure to prepare for the competition. She is also a person who encounters adversity, doubt and pressure, and her emotions will be written on her face, but she is always full of fighting spirit to meet the next challenge and eager to prove herself. The same is true for Shi Yuqi. When preparing for the Su Cup, I watched him turn back and sprint with the young players to practice his physical fitness. Young athletes are very aggressive, but Shi Yuqi will always benchmark a performance goal and practice until he wins. "
Chen Yufei and Shi Yuqi fought in the Su Cup. Photo/Zhongxin Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Bo
"In fact, my teammates and I may encounter some emotional ups and downs. At first, as teammates, they may not ask directly, but everyone has a high emotional intelligence, and they will find an opportunity to give some comfort and encouragement with some’ tips’ to help each other decompress. In fact, there are many such small things in the team. Often these encouragements are all about seeing the truth in the details, which is very warm. " Chen Qingchen said.
Jia Yifan told China Newsweek: "We are finally going to play the Japanese game. The experienced physical fitness coach urgently asked us to warm up by turning back. All the teammates came to high-five us one by one, and I was nervous at that time. "
"Just when my hands and feet were cold, I saw Chen Qingchen laughing and laughing. She said let me try it, so that I could relax." Jia Yifan said.
Author: Ye Everest
