- Chen Long’s retirement from national feather men’s singles is another moment
- 2023-05-21 08:44:44.0 Source: Xinhuanet
Authors: Ji Ye, Xu Shihao, Ding Wenxian, Wang Hengzhi
On the 19th, at the Suzhou Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium where the Sudirman Cup will be held in 2023, Chen Long, the Olympic badminton men’s singles champion, and his former teammates Zhang Nan, Liu Cheng and Li Junhui participated in the Chinese Badminton Association’s retirement ceremony for them. ceremony.
Before this retirement ceremony, Guoyu had just defeated the Indonesian team 3-0 in the Soviet Cup quarter-finals. The audience did not leave after the game, but continued to witness the retirement ceremony of the former idols in the stands.
The big screen first played the exciting moments of the four players’ matches. When Chen Long’s name and photo appeared first, there were enthusiastic cheers at the scene.
The family members of the four players were also invited to participate in this tender ceremony. Accompanying Chen Long is his lover, Chinese badminton women’s singles player Wang Shixian. One part of the ceremony was to share photos, and the photo Chen Long found was a group photo of him and Wang Shixian at the Rio Olympics. In that Olympic Games, Chen Long, who won the gold medal, reached the pinnacle of his career.
Chen Long was born in the cold winter of early 1989, only 18 days away from the lunar year of the snake. He is an out-and-out “dragon tail”. After working hard in his career, Chen Long really transformed into a “dragon” in the Rio Olympics!
The 34-year-old Chen Long has won men’s singles bronze, gold and silver medals in three Olympic Games in London, Rio and Tokyo. In addition, he also won the World Championships twice in 2014 and 2015, and won the Sudirman Cup five times and the Thomas Cup three times with Guoyu.
Chen Long gradually faded out of the international arena after losing to Danish star Axelsen in the men’s singles final at the Tokyo Olympics. The last time he participated was the 2021 National Games. At that time, he led the Fujian team to win the men’s team championship, but lost to Shi Yuqi in the men’s singles semi-finals.
“Because Little Coffee (the son of Chen Long) is already two years old, I did not accompany him well two years before the epidemic (because of preparing for the Tokyo Olympics). After discussing with my family, I still decided to quit the national team. Before that, Wang Shixian was always alone. It’s not easy for someone to take care of the whole family,” Chen Long said.
Although there is no longer a competition task, but this time I saw Chen Long again in Suzhou, and he still maintained his athlete’s figure. He said that he also hopes to participate in the 15th National Games hosted by Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau in 2025.
In the era of Lin Dan and Li Zongwei, Chen Long could only be a supporting role all the time, but he has also been trying his best. In the 2012 London Olympics, when the whole world was paying attention to the “Lin-Lee War” in the Olympic finals again, he defeated Korean player Lee Hyun-il in the bronze medal match. In the 2016 Rio Olympics, although people are still talking about the “Lin-Lee War” in the semi-finals, Chen Long defeated Li Zongwei in the final and won the Olympic gold medal for the first time.
These achievements made him the most successful men’s singles player in Guoyu after Lin Dan. Looking back at his career, Chen Long said that it is his regret that he did not win the men’s singles gold medal in the Asian Games. “But there is a day when we say goodbye to everything. Regrets are regrets, but we have to look at the future with a better attitude.”
Earlier this month, Chen Long received an invitation from the Chinese badminton team to become a member of the expert team to assist the team in preparing for the Sudirman Cup. He trains and competes with the men’s singles team every day. He is mainly responsible for young players such as Li Shifeng, and will also share suggestions and ideas with Shi Yuqi.
For the national men’s singles, Chen Long hopes that young players will dare to win and dare to think. “I think the most important thing is to have confidence, because young players actually have the strength to impact high-level athletes, but they may still doubt themselves or lack confidence after playing. If you play like this, you have already lost half, so I want them to dare to attack.”
At the retirement ceremony, Wang Shixian said to her lover Chen Long: “Suzhou happens to be my hometown, welcome home, I hope we will continue to cooperate happily, and hope to find new value in the new track.”
Zhang Jun, chairman of the Chinese Badminton Association, said: “I wish you better and better, and never leave badminton.”
For the future, Chen Long said that he will participate in the youth promotion of badminton to make more people love badminton.
After Lin Dan, another chapter of the national badminton men’s singles, a new chapter is left for the young players to uncover.