Chinese shuttlers begin World Tour Finals with six wins, three losses

Chinese players finished competitions on the first day of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Finals in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, on Wednesday, with six wins and three losses.

Home favorite Shi Yuqi defeated Jonatan Christie of Indonesia 21-16, 17-21, 21-8 in the men's singles match in Group B.

"I won because I played with better patience," Shi told reporters. "My opponent is great on both offense and defense. I have learnt my lesson from out previous battle. I tried to do better in transition."

Shi's compatriot Li Shifeng lost to the top seed Anders Antonsen of Denmark 221-14, 21-19 in Group A.

In the women's singles event, No. 1 seed Wang Zhiyi beat Busanan Ongbamrungphan of Thailand 21-19, 21-14 in front of home crowd in Group A. Wang's compatriot, second-seeded Han Yue edged Akane Yamaguchi of Japan 21-19, 21-17 in Group B.

"We are still in the process of gradually learning from our experiences in major events," Liu told CGTN Sports Scene's Yuan Rui.

"As young players, we face opponents who are older than us and approach each match with a mindset focused on challenging them and learning from them. Therefore, I believe that being Olympic runners-up and world number one means little to us," Tan said.

He Jiting and Ren Xiangyu of China suffered a comeback loss against Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia 21-17, 18-21, 15-21 in the men's doubles match in Group B.

The women's doubles home pairs both won in the event. Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning rallied to defeat Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand Pullela of India 20-22, 22-20, 21-14 in Group A. Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan beat No. 2 seed, Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi of Japan 21-11, 21-17 in the other group.

Jiang Zhengbang and Wei Yanxin faced Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong in an all-Chinese clash in a mixed doubles match in Group A. In the end, Jiang and Wei secured the victory 21-17, 22-20.