Wang Chen

Jayce September 6, 2024 0

Character Introduction

Wang Chen (born June 21, 1976, in Shanghai) is a former Chinese and Hong Kong women’s badminton player. She was originally a member of the Chinese national badminton team but later moved to Hong Kong, representing Hong Kong in international competitions. Wang achieved a career-high world ranking of No. 1, won the women’s singles gold medal at the Doha Asian Games, and was named “Hong Kong Outstanding Athlete” seven times. She is now retired and serves as the coach for the Hong Kong women’s badminton team.

Wang Chen began training in badminton at the age of 10 at the Hongkou District Amateur Sports School in Shanghai. Four years later, in 1990, she was selected for the Chinese national team for the first time. In 1993, she returned to the Shanghai team, but in 1994, she rejoined the national team and won the runner-up position in the Group A of the National Youth Badminton Championship, as well as the women’s singles title at the 2nd World Junior Badminton Championships. Wang later became a key player for the national team and represented China at the World Badminton Championships in Glasgow, where she secured a bronze medal.

In 2001, Wang Chen joined the Hong Kong badminton team upon the recommendation of Zheng Yumin, the then-coach of the Hong Kong team. However, during her early days in Hong Kong, she was plagued by knee injuries, chronic illness, and language barriers. For the first year, she did not participate in any official matches, and she even considered retiring. Fortunately, the encouragement from then-coach Chen Zhicai helped her persevere. From the second half of 2002, Wang Chen’s performance began to recover. She won the bronze medal in the women’s singles at both the Asian Badminton Championships and the Asian Games, and she reached the semifinals or quarterfinals in various tournaments in Denmark, Singapore, and Malaysia. In 2003, she won the Asian Badminton Championships, finished as runner-up at the Korea and Indonesia Open Badminton Championships, and briefly held the top spot in the women’s singles world ranking.

In December 2006, Wang Chen represented Hong Kong in the women’s singles event at the Asian Games in Doha. She defeated Xie Xingfang in a hard-fought semifinal, winning 2-1 (21-17, 17-21, 21-16), and then went on to claim the gold medal by defeating her fellow Hong Kong teammate Yip Pui Yin 2-0 (21-14, 22-20) in the final, marking the peak of her career.

In April 2009, Wang Chen was appointed as a player-coach for the Hong Kong team, paving the way for her eventual retirement. In November of the same year, after the East Asian Games badminton competition, she announced her retirement. In April 2010, she officially replaced He Yiming as the coach of the Hong Kong women’s badminton team.

On March 1, 2014, Wang Chen officially retired from the Badminton World Federation.