China has its representatives in nearly all categories at the semifinals of the Badminton Asia Championships 2022. It’s only the men’s doubles category that doesn’t have any Chinese player.
In the men's singles category, Weng Hong Yang made his way to the semifinals. In the quarterfinals, he defeated the second seed from Indonesia, Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, with a rubber game 21-13, 16-21, 21-11. Weng Hong Yang amazingly made it through the qualification round despite his #153 ranking.
He himself is at his best. Two weeks ago, Weng Hong Yang was able to come out as champion by defeating another Indonesian representative, Jonathan Christie. Just to be able to qualify for the final took a lot of hard work. He met Malaysian third seed Lee Zii Jia. The 2021 All England champion defeated Japan's Kanta Tsuneyama 21-13, 21-11. Hong Yang and Zii Jia had never met before. Meanwhile, the other semifinal brought together fellow Indonesian representatives, Chico Aura Wardoyo and Jonatan Christe. Chico, who in the first round defeated top seed Kento Momota of Japan, beat Li Shi Feng of China 21-17, 21-14 in the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, Jonatan Christie, who was seeded in fourth place, won over the world champion from Singapore, Loh Kean Yew, with a tight straight game 22-20, 23-21.
In women's singles, China still has Wang Zhi Yi. In the quarter-finals, the world number 17 badminton player won 21-19, 21-9 over Wen Chi Hsu of Taiwan. But to step all the way to the final round, Wang Zhi Yi needs to work hard as she will meet the representative of South Korea An Seyoung in the semifinals. She has met three times with the second seed at the Badminton Asia Championships 2022 but has never won. Another women's singles semifinal pitted first seed, Akane Yamaguchi of Japan, against arch-rivals from India Pusarla V. Sindhu. In the quarter-finals, both of them were forced to play rubber games by their opponents. Akane beat Porpawee Chochuwong of Thailand 9-21, 21-15, 21-17. Meanwhile, Sindhu, who was seeded in fourth place, struggled to beat He Bing Jiao, the fifth seed from China, 21-9, 13-21, 21-19. The two have met 21 times with Sindhu winning 13 times.
The Chinese representatives who have the greatest chance of winning are in the women's doubles. Moreover, in the semifinals, the silver medalist of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, met their own colleagues, Du Yue/Li Wen Mei. In the quarter-finals, Chen Qing Chen/Jia Yi Fan, who became the first seed, defeated Japanese pair Nami Matsuyama/Chiharu Shida, seeded fifth, with two straight games 21-15, 21-19. Meanwhile, Du Yue/Li Wen Mei won easily 21-10, 21-12 over Indonesian doubles Siti Fadia/Ribka Sugiarto. The other semifinals also pitted the pair from one country, namely Japan, between Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota, who was the fourth seed, and Rin Iwanaga/Kie Nakanishi.
In the mixed doubles, China also passed two representatives in the semifinals, namely the first-seeded pair Zheng Si Wei/Huang Ya Qiong, who is also a silver medalist at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and Wang Yi Lyu/Huang Dong Ping, a gold winner at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the two pairs in the mixed doubles did not meet each other first. Zheng Si Wei/Huang Ya Qiong met Praveen Jordan/ Melati Daeva Oktavianti from Indonesia. Meanwhile, Si Wei/Huang Ya Qiong met the second seed from Japan, Yuta Watanabe/Arisa Higashino.
In the men's doubles, the only representatives who had survived in the quarter-finals were Ren Xiang Yu/Tan Qiang, who had a chance to make a surprise in the second round by defeating first seed Hendra Setiawan/Mohammad Ahsan from Indonesia, surrendered 21-19, 21-14 to Malaysia’s Goh Sze Fei/Nur Izzudin. In this men's doubles, it is certain that representatives of Malaysia and Indonesia will meet each other in the final round. Goh Sze Fei/Nur Izzudin is going to meet their own compatriots Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik, bronze winners of the Tokyo Olympics. Meanwhile, in the other semifinal match, two Indonesian doubles will compete for the final ticket, namely Muhammad Rian Ardianto/Fajar Alfian against Pramudya Kusumawardhana/Yeremia Rambitan.