YONEX All England champions thrive at World Tour Finals
Two pairs of YONEX All England champions capped off sensational years by taking titles at the BWF World Tour Finals.
The World Tour season finale, staged in Hangzhou, China, brought together the top eight in each of the five traditional disciplines for one final tussle.
China’s Zheng Siwei capped off his badminton career with yet another win alongside Huang Yaqiong in the mixed doubles.
After suffering a rare defeat in the group stages, to Jiang Zhenbang and Wei Yaxin, they got revenge on their compatriots in the semi-finals.
Zheng and Huang went on to beat Malaysia’s Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei in a see-saw final, losing the second game but coming back to prevail 21-18 14-21 21-17.
They have now claimed victory at the last two YONEX All England Opens, the last three BWF World Tour Finals and also clinched Olympic gold in Paris.
In women’s doubles, Baek Ha-na and Lee So-hee rounded off a superb World Tour campaign with a dominant win.
Olympic champions Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan beat the Koreans in the group stages but suffered a 23-21 21-13 defeat in the semi-finals at the hands of 2022 YONEX All England champions Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida.
Baek and Lee were far superior in the final, beating the Japanese duo 21-19 21-14.
There was plenty of success for the home fans to celebrate as Chinese shuttlers walked away with top prize in the men’s and women’s singles.
A four-time tournament winner in 2024, Shi Yu Qi made the most of Viktor Axelsen’s absence to be the class of the field, beating Anders Antonsen 21-18 21-14 in the final.
It was a measure of retribution for Shi after he exited the Olympics at the quarter-final stage as the top seed.
Wang Zhiyi cemented her status as the brightest star in women’s singles with a landmark victory.
The 24-year-old defeated the Olympic gold medallist An Se-young in straight games in the semi-finals and downed compatriot Han Yue in the showpiece.
The men’s doubles trophy was won by Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark as they resisted a fight back from Nur Izzuddin and Goh Sze Fei of Malaysia to triumph 21-17 17-21 21-11.
