Jayce
On January 23, China’s men’s doubles star Ou Xuanyi celebrated his 30th birthday, and he celebrated his birthday with a victory. On the first day of the Indonesian Badminton Masters, Liu Yuchen/Ou Xuanyi defeated the Danish combination of Kjaer/Sjogaard 2-1 and entered the men’s doubles top 16.
Ou Xuanyi is a late bloomer of the national badminton team. Compared with his peers, he achieved results later and once thought of retiring. However, with the encouragement of people around him and the guidance of his coach, Ou Xuanyi persevered and continued to train without distraction, and finally got the opportunity.
In 2022, the national badminton men’s doubles team was reorganized, and the 1.89-meter-tall Ou Xuanyi and the Tokyo Olympic men’s doubles runner-up, 1.93-meter-tall Liu Yuchen, formed the “new twin towers”. In 2022, when the national badminton men’s doubles team was in the most difficult time, he and Liu Yuchen stood up and won the Indonesia Open, Australian Open, and the year-end finals, becoming the “outstanding” combination of the national badminton men’s doubles team that year.
Ou Xuanyi is shy and speaks little, but he has a different temperament in the game. The 2023 Sudirman Cup has allowed more people to know “Brother Ou” in the mouths of the national badminton players. In the semi-finals, the Chinese team was behind 1-2. Ou Xuanyi/Liu Yuchen saved 4 match points in succession when they were behind 16-20 in the final game with the Japanese combination of Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi, and finally achieved a big reversal, becoming the biggest contributor to the Chinese team’s advancement to the finals. In the last few points, Ou Xuanyi attacked decisively and judged the out-of-bounds ball accurately, showing a “big heart”. After winning this duel on the edge of the cliff and returning to the warm-up field, everyone thanked “Brother Ou” for saving the whole team, but Brother Ou said: “I am also saving myself.”
After winning the Sudirman Cup, Ou Xuanyi became a world champion and he was very happy. “When I was a kid, people asked me about my badminton dream, and I said I wanted to be a world champion, but it felt so far away.” Now that his dream of becoming a world champion has come true, his next wish is to participate in the Paris Olympics.
At present, Ou Xuanyi and Liu Yuchen are ranked seventh in the Paris Olympic qualifying tournament. Before the Olympic qualifying tournament ends on April 27, every Olympic qualifying tournament is very important to them. In the 2023 season, they fell into a slump after the Sudirman Cup but recovered their form in time at the end of the year and rekindled their hopes of participating in the Olympics.
Since Ou Xuanyi and Liu Yuchen became partners, the outside world has intentionally or unintentionally compared Ou Xuanyi with Liu Yuchen’s Tokyo cycle partner Li Junhui. Whenever Ou Xuanyi was questioned, Liu Yuchen would always stand up to encourage “Brother Ou”. On Ou Xuanyi’s 30th birthday, Liu Yuchen specially posted a message on the social platform to wish “Brother Ou” a happy birthday.
On the 23rd, in the Indonesian Masters against the Danish pair, Ou Xuanyi/Liu Yuchen played very hard. After three fierce battles, they narrowly defeated their opponents 18-21, 21-13, 22-20. Although it is difficult, persistence will bring victory, just like Ou Xuanyi’s experience along the way. No matter how difficult the future is, he will firmly move towards his dream.
