Why China’s National Games always come close to international badminton | Badminton news

Although TT, diving and volleyball are the absolute best sports in this country, the Chinese National Games tend to be a big event for Chinese badminton. Provincial rivalries are seriously nurtured and the pressure of Olympic competition is simulated.

But of particular importance this year is the keen interest of the Korean badminton media, who are watching with hawkish eyes and from a complacent distance how the Chinese will respond to “The Situation”, which goes by the name Ahn Se-yong.

Korea’s Chosun Daily summed it up last week in a report filled with lavish gloating, some hyperbole, but not entirely unrealistic. The Korean No. 1 in women’s singles extended her reign to 118 weeks, including 56 in a row, after a stunning season with 9 titles.

A mocking fog hangs over the Shenzhen Arena, where badminton games are held. Her results include two Super 1000s Malaysia Open and All England, 4 Super 750s in India, Japan, Denmark and France, claiming 9 out of 13 finals.

With Taiwan’s Tai Chi retiring at the weekend (and her opponents heaving a sigh of relief), Wang Zhiyi, Han Yue and Chen Yufei will go into battle in Shenzhen knowing that this year’s World Championship has gone to Akane Yamaguchi, but the specter of An Se-yong hanging over their heads in the women’s singles.

You can forgive the Korean media for their blabbering, which found (and translated) the Chinese media repeatedly criticizing their own coaching staff, highlighting Ahn Se-yong’s name in the process, according to the Chosun Daily. They quoted Chinese publication Sina Sports as saying, “The Chinese badminton team still doesn’t understand An Se-yong. She is already rewriting badminton history. It’s time for Chinese coaches to wake up.” Chosun chuckled that “Luo Yigan, the coach of the Chinese national team, had previously instructed the players that ‘An Xie Yong is nothing special’ and (they should) ‘keep shaking her to drain her stamina.’ However, the results were disastrous.”

Egan defeated Lin Dan at the 2001 national championships and is known for his technical acumen. But the Koreans talk about allegedly underestimating Se Yong years ago, even as the Chinese struck back in 2025, as Yufei defeated Se Yong in the World Cup semi-finals this year.

However, this exciting Korea-China rivalry is lyrical, and these 2025 China National Games have provided a fun excuse to stir. Chosun went on to write, “The media admitted: ‘The Chinese coaching staff misjudged Ahn Se-yong as just a ‘fast player.’

But her real strength lies in smart play and psychological warfare in the design of the entire match.” They added: “Xie Yong has dominated badminton for more than three years, but China still can’t find a solution.”

China’s leading sports magazine Sohu bluntly stated, “Wang Zhiyi and Chen Yufei will compete for the women’s singles title at the National Games, but it ends up being a ‘competition without An Se Yong.’ China can only discuss winning tournaments without Ahn Se-yong.”

While Yufei has her title at the Tokyo Olympics (apart from a 14-14 H2H ​​with Xie Yong), Wang Zhiya’s next hope, with 4 wins and 15 losses against the Korean, is under immense pressure. “Essentially, the Chinese team crumbles every time they face Ahn Se-yong,” Sohu very kindly reminded.

Chosun quoted another Chinese agency, NetEase, as fearing that Se-Yong is approaching Kent Momota’s record 11 wins in the 2019 season: “If Ahn Se-Yong maintains her current form, she can hold the top spot in the world rankings for 150-200 weeks.” So even as the Chinese shuttlers were on top in Shenzhen, Se-Yang could be in Australia to celebrate title No. 10, followed by the World Tour Finals in December.

But in this brief overview of what Chinese men’s badminton will unveil in 2026, all the hype at their National Games revolves around Jiangsu (led by Shi Yuqi), rivals Zhejiang (with Wang Chang) and Beijing (with Liu Yuchen). Chen Yufei and Huang Yaqiun were tasked with leading Zhejiang to glory, while Jia Yifan would fight for Hunan.

The meeting between Liu Yuchen and Feng Yanzhe for the Beijing team is of great interest to the Chinese, their training at the Shichahai Sports School being widely covered by the media. They are called the giants of badminton because they are both over 1.9 meters tall and in the midst of the Covid pandemic at Nationals 2020, they defeated all the opponents. Liu (30) has been world champion since 2018 (one half of the Two Towers with Li Junhui) and the Nationals is his big “comeback” after a hibernation where his cardio and slimming diet became something of apocryphal folklore.

Yangze’s pure aggression

Rising star Feng Yanzhe, 24, has reached world No. 1 in mixed doubles, although Beijing can’t stop bragging about his sheer aggression, where he hangs and roars.

But China’s National Games, like the revelation of their inner depths since 1959 when they competed in isolation under sanctions, have always also been about projecting powerful statements to the rest of the world. China’s achievements are always on the promotional list of the Games, and Beijing 2008 women’s doubles gold medalist Yu Yang was widely applauded and popular on Weibo for lighting the Games torch “Flower” after taking a piece of the humanoid robot Kuafu, described as “the world’s first 5G-A humanoid”, which was torchbearer No. 0. In fact, the first stage was made on Lianhuashan mountain by physicist Xue Qikun, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Badminton is under close scrutiny at this intersection of technology and sport, as AI cameras will capture key moments in matches and offer viewing options from different angles, China Daily reports, in an attempt to revolutionize broadcasting in a notoriously difficult sport to capture on film.

While exoskeleton robots are expected to be a regular sight at these Games, the relay of fire that has been going around the country in the past few months has also included paramedics and delivery people.

The games are typically huge with 3,200 journalists registered to cover them, and China is experimenting with a 15 points x 5 sets format in anticipation of a potential new BWF badminton scoring system. Interprovincial pairings were banned to improve the quality of each province. The fleet of flights is painted in the colors of the National Game logo.

But even as Korea gloats over Ahn Se-yong’s badminton subplot, the Chinese are pushing for a bigger, culturally-influenced launch at the National Games. Yoga may soon have some serious competition.

According to CGTN, China intends to revive and compete its ancient equivalent of the Baduanjin exercise. Every culture has it in one form or another, and while it’s not as complex or profound as yoga, Baduanjing, which translates to “eight pieces of brocade” and is performed to soothing music, is more formally packaged alongside tai chi.

But a big sports celebration happens these days only when social networks light up.

The humanoid robots, the ancient coded version of Tai Chi, and the Chinese Badminton worrying about Ahn Se Yeon are all very good. But the modern sport rides with trolls.

The South China Morning Post announced unprecedented measures to protect athletes, coaches and referees at the National Games from doxing and fan-run smear campaigns that could “disrupt the preparations or the smooth running of the events”. Their Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) is running a Clean and Bright: Fixing the Internet Environment campaign, while China’s badminton stars struggle, bracing themselves for a headache that could be bigger than facing Ahn Se-yong and ruin their mental health.

The Chinese National Games are not part of the official badminton calendar. But there are always many canaries flying into the coal mines, and such is the significance of this test event.