Hee Yong Kai Terry (L) of Singapore hits a return beside accomplice Tan Wei Han Jessica throughout their combined doubles match with Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong of China at the Sudirman Cup Finals 2023 world badminton championships in Suzhou, in China’s jap Jiangsu province on May 16, 2023.
| Photo Credit: AFP
Holders China defeated Singapore at the Sudirman Cup on Tuesday, transferring into the following spherical of certainly one of badminton’s largest tournaments.
After successful the combined doubles and males’s singles, hosts China sealed the showdown within the ladies’s singles the place He Bingjiao beat Yeo Jia Min 22-20, 21-15.
The biennial Sudirman Cup has an additional edge this 12 months as a result of performances depend in the direction of qualification for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The mixed-team competitors within the jap Chinese metropolis of Suzhou is the primary worldwide sporting occasion in China for the reason that nation ditched its robust zero-Covid insurance policies late final 12 months.
China are clear favourites this 12 months to retain the trophy, which they’ve gained a file 12 occasions.
The win over Singapore on Tuesday adopted a 5-0 thrashing of minnows Egypt of their opening sport on Sunday.
Indonesia, winners and hosts of the inaugural Sudirman Cup in 1989, additionally bagged a second win on Tuesday after taking down Germany 4-1.
Thailand, whose greatest Sudirman Cup performances embrace three third-place finishes prior to now 5 editions, defeated Canada 4-1 Tuesday for his or her second group-stage victory.
Monday’s matchups noticed four-time winners South Korea cruise to a 4-1 win over England, whereas Indonesia whitewashed Canada 5-0 and Thailand downed Germany 4-1.
Nearly all worldwide sporting occasions hosted by China had been referred to as off when the pandemic started.
The most notable exception had been the Beijing Winter Olympics final 12 months, which had been held in a virus-secure “bubble”.
Play for this 12 months’s Sudirman Cup kicked off on Sunday in Suzhou and is scheduled to final for one week.
