New star of pool
Popovici in spotlight at European Swimming Championships China shuttlers gear up for BWF 2022 World Championships
Romania’s David Popovici competes in a heat for the men’s 100-meter freestyle event during the Budapest 2022 World Aquatics Championships at Duna Arena in Budapest, Hungary on June 21, 2022.
Left: David Popovici poses with his medal at Duna Arena in Budapest, Hungary on June 22, 2022.
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) announced the draws for the 2022 World Badminton Championships on Wednesday in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The 2022 championships, to be held on August 22 in Tokyo, will feature five individual events. China has seven singles players and seven doubles pairs competing in the tournament.
China’s Shi Yuqi, Lu Guangzu and Zhao Junpeng will participate in the men’s singles event. Shi, who is ranked 21st, may face Indonesia’s Anthony Sinisuka Ginting in the third round, and if he wins that match, he is likely to meet Tokyo Olympic champion Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen in the quarterfinals.
China has four players in the women’s singles event. The lone Chinese player in the bottom half is Olympic champion Chen Yufei, who might face Japanese star Nozomi Okuhara and Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu Ying, who finished second in the Tokyo Olympics. Han Yue, He Bingjiao and Wang Zhiyi are divided into the upper half, and He Bingjiao is likely to meet tough opponents including Spaniard Carolina Marin and top seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan.
In the women’s doubles, top seeds Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan, Du Yue/Li Wenmei and Liu Xuanxuan/Xia Yuting are in the upper half, while Zhang Shuxian and Zheng Yu are in the bottom half. Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota, the No. 2 seeds from Japan, and Kim So-yeong/Kong Hee-yong, the No. 4 seeds from South Korea, are also worthy of attention in the bottom half.
Due to low world ranking, Chinese pairs will not compete in the men’s doubles. The upper half is occupied by three Indonesian couples, including Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, while the defending champions from Japan, Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi, are in the bottom half.
Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong, Wang Yilyu and Huang Dongping, as well as Guo Xinwa and Zhang Shuxian will compete in the mixed doubles.
The top seeds Zheng and Huang have been on a hot streak recently, and they are likely to face Wang and Huang in the semifinals, which will be a repeat of the Tokyo Olympic final.
The last World Championships was held in December 2021 in Huelva, where China won a gold, a silver and two bronze medals.