On October 13, 2024, in the World Junior Badminton Championships final, China’s mixed doubles pair Lin Xiangyi and Liu Yuanyuan claimed victory over Chinese Taipei’s Lai Bo-You and Sun Liang-Qing with scores of 21-18, 21-14 to win the mixed doubles title.
It’s worth mentioning that China has won 8 mixed doubles titles in the last 10 World Junior Championships. The champions were:
- 2013: Huang Kaixiang/Chen Qingchen
- 2014: Huang Kaixiang/Chen Qingchen
- 2015: Zheng Siwei/Chen Qingchen
- 2016: He Jiting/Du Yue
- 2019: Feng Yanzhe/Lin Fangling
- 2022: Zhu Yijun/Liu Shengshu
- 2023: Liao Pinyi/Zhang Jiaheng
- 2024: Lin Xiangyi/Liu Yuanyuan
Q: You and your partner Lin Xiangyi played quite freely in the final. How do you feel about it?
Liu Yuanyuan: I’m very excited and happy. This was our last World Junior Championship, as we are about to enter the adult competitions. Winning this title is a perfect way to wrap up our youth career.
Q: Do you feel that playing mixed doubles helped Lin save energy for the men’s doubles final?
Liu Yuanyuan: I tried my best to help him conserve energy, but boys do tend to exert more in mixed doubles. I hope he will keep up the momentum and achieve great results in the men’s doubles match later.