Chen Yufei celebrates after winning the women's singles badminton gold medal at the Chinese National Games in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, September 17, 2021. /CFP
The badminton competitions reached an end at the Chinese National Games on Friday in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. Some of the players who won medals at the Tokyo Olympics, achieved the same result at the National Games. What a coincidence.
Chen Yufei, who defeated Chinses Taipei's Tai Tzu-ying in Tokyo, beat He Bingjiao in the women's singles final in Xi'an to become the first two-straight-time women's singles gold medalist in the history of the National Games.
Chen Yufei downplayed that she's already the No. 1 player the Chinese women's team with a smile. Instead, she said she still has a lot to work on even after defending her title at the National Games.
Chen Qingchen (L)/Jia Yifan compete in the women's doubles badminton final at the Chinese National Games in Xi'an, September 17, 2021. /CFP
Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan who brought home the women's doubles gold from Tokyo, pocketed their first National Games championship this time.
"We talked about the pairing issue after the Olympics. Neither of us wanted to change partner anymore. We want to play together for another 10 years," said Chen Qingchen.
"We will tell each other any difficulty we meet on the field. Though we have different hobbies away from badminton, we make the best pair," said Jia.
Huang Dongping (L)/Wang Yilyu celebrate after winning the mixed doubles badminton godl medal at the Chinese National Games in Xi'an, September 17, 2021. /CFP
Wang Yilyu/Huang Dongping and Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong had a rematch for the Tokyo Olympic mixed doubles final at the National Games. Having won it again, Wang was almost immediately in tears for such a hard-earn victory.
"We had no stress at all at the Olympics because we were world's No. 2 trying to challenge the No. 1. We went through way more difficulties at the National Games," said Huang Dongping.
"We made up our mind as the challenger after the loss at the Olympics and wanted a different result this time. Unfortunately, we lost again," said Huang Yaqiong after losing to the same pair twice in 49 days.
Liu Yuchen(L)/Li Junhui comepete in the men's doubles badminton final at the Chinese National Games in Xi'an, September 17, 2021. /CFP
Li Junhui/Liu Yuchen who were runner-up in the men's doubles final in Tokyo, lost to Zhou Haodong/Wang Chang in Xi'an. "I feel worse this time than in Tokyo. We thought we could start over with gold medal at the National Games, but we lost again at key plays. I'm disappointed at myself," said Liu.
Shi Yuqi competes in the men's singles badminton final at the Chinese National Games in Xi'an, September 17, 2021. /CFP
Compared with the above athletes, Shi Yuqi made breakthrough in Xi'an by winning the men's singles gold medal. He said the victory meant much more than a medal to himself. "My biggest gain at the National Games is that I will be more calm and collected instead of panicking facing unexpected situations in the match," said Shi.