China makes a great comeback after losing early in the mixed team event by dominating the individual event semifinals of the BNI Badminton Asia Junior Championships 2023 Individual Event. China’s representatives are ready to fight in all categories in the finals that will be held today at Among Raga Sports Hall, Yogyakarta, starting at 12 pm local time.
China’s representative in the men’s singles is Wang Zijun. This fifth seed qualified after defeating an Indonesian representative Prahdiska Bagas Shujiwo with two straight games 21-17, 21-15 in the quarter-final match. Unfortunately, his own compatriot, Zhang Zhijie, failed to qualify to the semifinals. He was defeated by the Japanese representative who was also the eighth seed, Yudai Okimoto, 17-21, 20-22.
The final between Chinese badminton players is likely to happen. However, Wang Zijun has to be able to defeat Yudai Okimoto from Japan. Moreover, Hu Zhean, in the other semifinals, has to defeat Indonesian representative Alwi Farhan. Two of the Chinese representatives have a more superior position compare to their opponents with Wang Zijun being the fifth seed while Okimoto being the eighth seed, and Hu Zhean as the third seed while Alwi as ninth.
Likewise in women's singles. China put two representatives, Xu Wenjing and Shou Qunyu. Incredibly, both beat the top two seeds. Xu Wenjing, the ninth seed, won 21-12, 17-21, 23-21 over top seed Tomoka Miyazaki of Japan. Shou Qunyu, on the other hand, defeated second seed Sirada Roongpiboonsopit of Thailand 21-17, 21-16. Again, in this category, an all-Chinese finals can happen. In the semifinals, Xu Wenjing, who is seeded ninth, will meet 14th seed Kim Min-ji, who made it through to the semifinals thanks to an easy straight game 21-10, 21-5 over the host's representative Ruzana. While Shou Qunyu will face Indonesian badminton player Mutiara Ayu Puspitasari. Mutiara Ayu Puspitasari qualified for the semifinals after defeating another Chinese badminton player, Huang Linran, 17-21, 21-19, 21-19.
Another category with two Chinese representatives is the men’s doubles that will have Chen Yongrui/Hu Keyuan and Ma Shang/Zhu Jiyun, both of whom are unseeded pairs. The second-seeded Chinese pair Xu Huayu/Zang Lejian were knocked out in the quarter-finals by seventh-seeded doubles Lai Po-yu/Tsai Fu-cheng of Chinese Taipei 13-21, 23-21, 15-21.
Li Huazhou/Zhang Yuhan will be the only Chinese representatives in the women's doubles semifinals. The sixth seed advanced to the semifinals thanks to the victory over Indonesian doubles Nabila Cahaya Permata Ayu/Reva Olivia Damayani 21-19, 21-14. In the semifinals, Li Huazhou/Zhang Yuhan will meet Korean pair Park Seul/Yeon Seo-yeon who in the quarter-finals defeated Chinese pair Chen Fanshutian/Jiang Peixi 21-18, 21-15. One place in the women's doubles final belongs to Japan, having either the first seeds Mei Sudo/Nao Yamakita or Maya Taguchi/Aya Tamaki who will fight in the semifinals today.
In the mixed doubles, China and Korea will fight hard. The two doubles who qualified for the semifinals met each other. The first seeds from China Zhu Jiyun/Huang Kexin met the unseeded doubles Lee Min-wook/Cheon Hye-in. In the other semifinals, the third seeds from China, Liao Pinyi/Zhang Jiahan, will meet the eighth seeds Park Beom-soo/Yeon Seo-Yeon.
China's toughness in the individual event seemed to want to avenge the failure in the team event. In that event, China's steps only reached the quarter-finals after falling to Japan with 1-3. (*)
