Wang Zhi Yi has been beating a number of the world's top badminton players, which sent her rankings skyrocketing. Who is Wang?
She hails from a Hubei family with no background in competitive sports and took up badminton as a way to get in shape. When people started to pay attention to her game, she decided to get serious. Wang began her career in competitive badminton at the Jingzhou Sports School. Then, in 2009, she entered a training center in Hubei Province.
In 2016, Wang joined the Chinese National Team. Since then, she has been able to participate in many more competitions. Wang showcased her top skills at the junior level during the Junior Mixed Team Badminton World Championships in 2018. She led China to the title with three wins under pressure. At the time, Junior head coach Wang Wei praised her, calling Wang an "excellent" player. In the same year, she also won the individual title at the Badminton Asia Junior Championships and won 2nd place at the Youth Olympic Games 2018.
As she matures, Wang won even more titles. In 2019 alone, she won at the Austrian Open, US Open, Belarus International, Indonesia Masters, Dutch Open, and Malaysia International Challenge. In 2020, she won 3rd place at the Indonesia Masters 2020.
Currently, Wang is ranked 14th in Women’s Singles and on the World Tour as 17th in Women’s Singles. Despite her young age, only 21 years old, Wang Zhi is often included in tournaments, and she even succeeded in helping the Chinese team win a gold medal at the 2017 World Junior Championships in Yogyakarta. Just recently, she won the 2022 Badminton Asia Championship, defeating the first seed, Akane Yamaguchi from Japan, in the final with a score of 21–15, 13–21, 19–21.
With her record of achievements and looking at her young age, it’s obvious that she will rise even higher. Wang Zhi Yi is definitely one of the Best of Asia.
