The key word for the whole year is “roller coaster”. Hong Kong’s number one mixed doubles team “Deng Xie Pei” hopes to compete in the Paris Olympics-Sports-China Engineering Network

Original title: The key word for the whole year is “roller coaster”. The number one mixed doubles combination of Hong Kong, China, “Deng Xie Pei” hopes to compete in the Paris Olympics

China News Service, Shenzhen, November 26

China News Service reporter Hao Lingyu

On the 25th, Hong Kong, China’s top mixed doubles combination of “Deng Xie Pair” Deng Chunwen/Xie Yingxue lost 0:2 in the semifinals of the China Badminton Masters to the newly promoted world championship champions, South Korea’s Seo Seung Jae/Chai Yujing. The pair, who won third place at the Tokyo Olympics, ended the last game in November by reaching the semi-finals.

At the beginning of the game, Deng Junwen/Xie Yingxue encountered a lot of pressure. Compared with the previous round, the Korean team’s state has improved somewhat. Cai Yujing caused a lot of trouble in front of the net, and Seo Seungjae also hit a lot of good shots with full firepower. Although Deng Junwen and Xie Yingxue resisted with all their strength, as Xu Chengzai succeeded in the smash, they still lost to their opponents at 17:21 and 13:21, stopping in the semi-finals.

After the game, a reporter from China News Service conducted an exclusive interview with the mixed doubles pair from Hong Kong, China. Despite losing the game, the two were not too upset. Deng Junwen gave his performance a score of 80. He believed that after several consecutive days of fighting, his physical strength and energy had declined, and mistakes were inevitable during the multi-shot stalemate. Coupled with physical discomfort, the score difference in the second game was large. Because he was worried about his partner’s physical condition, Xie Yingxue admitted that he was a little anxious on the court: “I knew that he (Deng Junwen) had a waist problem, so I wanted to help him as much as possible. Sometimes I used too much force, giving the opponent a chance to counterattack. “

For both of them, this competition has been quite rewarding. In the 1/8 finals, they defeated the Chinese Taipei pair Ye Hongwei/Li Jiaxin. With this victory, they surpassed the Chinese Taipei pair in tournament points and qualified to participate in the World Badminton Federation year-end finals. The year-end finals is the highest-level event in the badminton tour system. Only the top eight players or combinations with cumulative total points in each World Tour stop throughout the year are eligible to be invited to participate.

Before the game, “Deng Xie Pei” was not absolutely sure about reaching the year-end finals. As they grew older, both suffered injuries. Xie Yingxue admitted that she suffered shoulder, knee and thigh injuries in 2022. Her recovery status was not ideal for a time, and she hesitated whether to continue playing despite the pain. “But after a lot of communication with my partner, we reached a consensus that we want to compete in another Olympics. So no matter how difficult it is, we still trust each other.”

With mutual understanding and support, as well as the help of coaches and teams, “Deng Xie Pei” finally stopped the decline in the second half of 2023. Starting from reaching the semi-finals of the Indonesian Badminton Open in June, Deng Junwen/Xie Yingxue began to reduce the number of “round trips” on the tour, reaching the finals at the Hong Kong Open in September and the French Open in October. In early November, they stood on the highest podium at the German Sea Dew Open and won the tour championship again after four years.

“The key word this year is ‘roller coaster’.” This is how Deng Junwen summarized the performance of the pair in 2023. He believes that before the start of the Olympic points competition in May this year, their competition results and on-field performance were not ideal. But fortunately, the combination’s performance gradually improved after the Olympic points competition began. As a result, their confidence continued to increase and their performance became more and more stable.

At the low point, many Hong Kong fans have always supported “Deng Xie Pei”. Xie Yingxue said that badminton is a relatively popular sport in Hong Kong. In recent years, citizens’ attention to sports has also been increasing. TV stations will broadcast some events for free to promote athletes in various sports, which also drives more young people to pay attention to sports.

“In the past, parents might worry that full-time athletes would face academic and work problems after retiring. Now the Hong Kong Sports Institute has signed contracts with many universities. Parents have gradually understood how athletes can train while taking care of their studies, and more and more children have The idea of ​​being a full-time athlete,” Xie Yingxue said.