Pi Hongyan

Joyce September 12, 2024 4 0

Character Introduction

Pi Hongyan (Chinese: 皮红艳; born December 11, 1979) is a former French badminton player originally from China.

Pi Hongyan began practicing badminton at the age of 8 and later joined the Sichuan badminton team.

In 1997, she was first selected for the Chinese National Badminton Team due to her outstanding performance. However, after winning the American Badminton Open in 1999, her coach Wang Junjie advised her to return to the Sichuan team due to her height of only 1.64 meters and limited potential for future development.

Returning to the provincial team, Pi Hongyan faced a difficult situation with only two competitions per year and a monthly salary of 800 yuan. Faced with this predicament, she considered retiring. However, a Danish badminton club approached her, inviting her to play in Denmark. In 2001, Pi Hongyan left China to play for the Danish club. During this time, she received an invitation from the French National Badminton Team and accepted it. In 2004, a month before the Athens Olympics, she obtained French citizenship and qualified to represent France in the Olympics. Unfortunately, she injured her ankle before the competition, affecting her performance, and she was eliminated in the first round, losing 1-2 (6-11, 11-6, 7-11) to South Korea’s Ryu Sun-hee, finishing in the top 32.

Apart from the Olympics, Pi Hongyan remained active in domestic, European, and international competitions. She won the French Open women’s singles title from 2003 to 2005 consecutively, becoming the first French player to win the title in half a century. She also won the French National Badminton Championships women’s singles title from 2005 to 2010 for six consecutive years. Her world ranking once reached second place on February 18, 2005.

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics women’s singles event, Pi Hongyan reached the quarterfinals, where she narrowly lost 1-2 (8-21, 21-19, 19-21) to Zhang Ning, who went on to win the gold medal. In August 2009, Pi Hongyan competed in the World Badminton Championships held in Hyderabad, India, where she reached the quarterfinals. After a tough three-game match, she defeated Germany’s Julian Schenck 2-1 (15-21, 21-15, 21-19) to advance. However, she lost 0-2 (18-21, 8-21) to China’s Xie Xingfang in the semifinals, marking her best result in the World Championships to date.

In January 2011, Pi Hongyan underwent surgery for an anterior cruciate ligament injury in her left leg, missing nearly three months of training and competition. She made a comeback in May 2011, representing France at the Sudirman Cup held in Qingdao, where she won her matches against Poland and Ukraine in the group stage.

In July 2012, Pi Hongyan represented France in women’s singles at the London Olympics, marking her third appearance at the Games. She won her group stage matches against Egypt’s Hadiya Hosni and Ireland’s Chloe Magee but was eliminated in the first round by Hong Kong’s Yip Pui Yin with a score of 1-2 (21-13, 12-21, 16-21), finishing in the top 16.

Pi Hongyan announced that after the London Olympics, she would gradually retire from badminton and start a new chapter in her life.