Jayce
“This match is the masterpiece of He Jiting / Ren Xiangyu and their peak battle.”
This was the evaluation made by CCTV commentator Zhang Sheng on them just before He Jiting/Ren Xiangyu secured victory for the Chinese team in the Thomas Cup final.
At 10:22 pm on May 5, Ren Xiangyu jumped high in the overhead area and smashed the ball with all his strength. As the opponent’s defensive return ball went out of bounds, the Chinese team defeated the Indonesian team 3-1 and regained the Thomas Cup after six years. At that moment, He Jiting knelt on the ground with excitement and opened his arms; at that moment, Ren Xiangyu fell to the ground and pounded the ground with his fists; at that moment, everyone was jubilant, and teammates and coaches rushed into the field to celebrate this glorious moment belonging to the Chinese team.
Every time they win, He Jiting/Ren Xiangyu, who call themselves the “Little Pistol” duo, always make a shooting gesture. This time, they shot down their dream of becoming world champions, which they had hidden for ten years, and the dream of the Chinese team regaining the Thomas and Uber Cups after twelve years.
01
“Ren Xiangyu is also a world champion”
Ren Xiangyu, who scored the last point, lay on the ground, pounding and shouting frantically, with tears welling up in his eyes. When he stood up and hugged his teammates, Xiaofu (the name given to Ren Xiangyu by the national badminton team) had red eyes.
His brothers were equally touching. The first to rush towards Ren Xiangyu were Lu Guangzu and Liu Yuchen, who excitedly gave him a hug. Afterwards, Zhang Jun, chairman of the Chinese Badminton Association, also gave a big hug to this disciple who finally realized his dream of becoming a world champion. His former partner Tan Qiang hugged Ren Xiangyu and couldn’t help shedding tears, saying, “Xiaofu, you finally did it!” There was also Ou Xuanyi, who had been waiting for a hug. He simply pulled Ren Xiangyu over and kept patting each other on the back. Afterwards, Ou Xuanyi recalled, “I said a few words to Xiaofu and felt that I was about to cry, so I quickly turned around to find He Jiting to relieve my tears.”
The emotional impact of these touching scenes is no less than that of the Chinese badminton team regaining the double cups, and it also reminds people of Ou Xuanyi’s Weibo a year ago. In May 2023, the Chinese badminton team successfully defended the Sudirman Cup, and Ou posted a Weibo like this: “Ou Xuanyi is the world champion.” Ren Xiangyu commented: “After so many years, you know.” Ou Xuanyi replied to Xiaofu: “Hold on, husband, everything will be there.”
A year later, the Uber Cup and Thomas Cup are back, and the national badminton players have written all kinds of essays. Ou Xuanyi was the only one who unexpectedly did not write about his own competition. Instead, he wrote nine words and a thumbs-up emoji: “Ren Xiangyu is also a world champion.” Ren Xiangyu sent three love emojis and replied: “Brother Ou, I did it!” Unexpectedly, Brother Ou also responded in the end: “After so many years, I understand, husband.”
02
The final puzzle piece of the “98 Generation”
No matter how many descriptions and exaggerations are used, they cannot compare to the emotional bond and feelings in their direct conversations, especially the feeling of carrying the burden of all the brothers waiting eagerly and anxiously for him to reach this step. I remember what Liu Yuchen said after achieving a stunning comeback in the Sudirman Cup last year: “When I was behind at the end, there was a moment when I thought that Fatty (Liang Weihang), Wang Chang, and Brother Ou (Ou Xuanyi) were not world champions yet. I wanted to fight for them, although I didn’t think I could do it at the time. But, fortunately, we did it!”
The “98” generation, all born in 1998, has produced a large number of doubles players, including the main players in the men’s doubles in these two Olympic cycles. They have been opponents since childhood and teammates since the national youth team. Although they come from different local teams, in the national team, “the 98 batch” has long become a special term.
Among this group of growing boys, Han Chengkai/Zhou Haodong were the first to win the world championship. As early as the 2019 Sudirman Cup in Nanning, they stood on the championship podium with the national badminton team. After that, Han Chengkai left the court and is now a university teacher; after the Tokyo Olympics, He Jiting and Tan Qiang realized their dreams at the Vantaa Sudirman Cup; after the epidemic, the competition gradually resumed, and even Xiaofu’s former partner, Ou Xuanyi, born in 1994, and Liang Weikeng/Wang Chang, two “post-00s”, became world champions at the Suzhou Sudirman Cup.
From 2014 to the start of the national youth team training, Ren Xiangyu has spent ten years of ups and downs in the national team. Counting his partners, from Tan Qiang, Fan Qiuyue, and Wang Zekang in his youth, to Ou Xuanyi in the Tokyo cycle, to the reunion with Tan Qiang in the Paris cycle, and finally to He Jiting today. His companions have either reached the peak or have turned around to start a new life, but Ren Xiangyu is still holding on to his dream. In those moments, he could not avoid the inner torment and doubt: I am the only one left, will I be the last puzzle or the last regret?
03
Unique team competition complex
Compared to Ren Xiangyu, He Jiting has shown great talent and achieved results since his youth. In 2014, the 16-year-old He Jiting started participating in the Asian Youth Championship and the World Youth Championship; in 2015, he and Zheng Siwei won two gold medals in men’s doubles at the World Youth Championship and the Asian Youth Championship, and he and Du Yue won the silver medal in mixed doubles at the World Youth Championship; in the last year of the Youth Championship, he and Tan Qiang won the silver medal in men’s doubles at the 2016 Asian Youth Championship, and won the mixed doubles championship at the World Youth Championship with Du Yue, magically winning the men’s doubles and mixed doubles championships and runner-ups at the World Youth Championship and the Asian Youth Championship.
After the transition from youth tournaments to adult tournaments, He Jiting gradually became a key player of the new generation of national badminton in 2018. At the end of that year, he and Tan Qiang reached the final of the Super 750 for the first time in Fuzhou, and later successfully unlocked the World Tour Championship in the India 300 tournament. In 2019, he and Du Yue won the mixed doubles championship in the Hong Kong Open. He has made many achievements in his early 20s, but his growth rate is not ideal.
He Jiting has a bit of artistic talent in his bones. He usually takes the initiative to buy books to read, especially some books about psychology. On the court, He Jiting showed great talent, whether it was the frontcourt organization of men’s doubles or the backcourt attack of mixed doubles. However, for a long time, the psychological barrier became a hurdle that he could not avoid on the court. Impatience or mental fluctuations at critical moments made him turn his initiative into passivity at critical moments in key games several times, and lost the opportunity to win due to too many mistakes.
During the epidemic, He Jiting read “A World Without Complaints” and tried to find his positive inner world and expression management on the court, hoping to change in future games. Interestingly, He Jiting is completely different in team competitions. I especially remember the 2021 National Games badminton men’s team finals. He Jiting/Liu Cheng, as the second doubles of the Fujian men’s team, tied the score for the team. After winning, He Jiting was unprecedentedly excited. When he talked about “the last session of old team members” during the interview, he burst into tears on the spot, which scared Liu Cheng next to him.
Historical photos: He Jiting’s passionate moments in the team competition at the 2021 National Games
Although his mentality fluctuates at ordinary times, the emotional He Jiting can always inspire his selfless dedication and burst out in every team competition. After the Shaanxi National Games, the national badminton team, which mainly consists of a new generation of fresh forces, competed in the Vantaa Sudirman Cup and the Aarhus Thomas Cup. He Jiting once again showed this side of him. In both the Sudirman Cup and the Thomas Cup, he played as a doubles player, leaving behind scenes of domineering roars and stripping off to celebrate after winning.
For He Jiting, the team competition is about fighting for his brothers and for the team: “There is no me in the team competition, and I will put aside my inner worries and fears.”
04
Three steps in one step, and then an injury at the last moment
A new cycle, a new starting point, the two pairs of He Jiting/Zhou Haodong and Tan Qiang/Ren Xiangyu set off again. They are all moving forward, and have made it to the finals and even won the championship. But they have already entered the age where they should become the core, and the outside world’s expectations of them are far more than that. After the start of the Olympic qualifying competition, the men’s doubles team once again reluctantly chose to reorganize when there was still no improvement from June to September last year, and He Jiting/Ren Xiangyu suddenly ran out in such a situation.
After the reorganization, “Any” took off quickly. In the European season, they went from the top 16 in Finland to the top 8 in Denmark, and reached the semi-finals in France in the third stop. Then in the Kumamoto Masters, they won the first 500-meter championship after only five stops together. In the Southeast Asian season at the beginning of 2024, they played four stops in a nearly overdrawn combat mode and won another 300-meter championship. For the precious Olympic points, they flew to Malaysia to participate in the Asian Team Championship during the New Year despite the pressure of He Jiting’s waist injury, and played a game together, with the goal of getting precious team points.
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