Source: REUTERS/Issei Kato
[Saba Sports News] China’s Badminton Team defended its dominant position with a 3-1 victory over South Korea in the Sudirman Cup final, but the win came with some regret – in the women’s singles match, Wang Zhiyi lost 0-2 to An Se-young, failing once again to break her dominance. After the match, there was heated discussion on how to defeat An Se-young, particularly drawing attention to comments made by Zhang Jun, the chairman of the Chinese Badminton Association. His response caused quite a stir among fans and industry insiders. The crux of the controversy lies in his three answers. First, he said “This is an excellent question, I will bring this issue to our Luo Yigang.” Many fans couldn’t help but complain, as it seemed like he was dodging responsibility. Second, he stated “We have team advantage, we have group advantage, if one person can’t beat her, five people will do it; if five can’t, ten will.” While his intention might have been to emphasize the overall strength at the team level, it sounded rather absurd given the current situation – An Se-young remains undefeated this year. Lastly, he mentioned “I will urge Luo to cultivate more young players.” This directly triggered emotional backlash on social media. Many fans believed this was essentially giving up on the current female singles players. Admittedly, the现状of new and old players transitioning in China’s badminton team is there, the women’s singles group lacks a true leader, but overly relying on unknown future stars seems too negative.