Zhang Nan

Jayce September 6, 2024 2 0

Character Introduction

Zhang Nan (张楠), male, born on March 1, 1990 in Beijing, is a Chinese badminton doubles player.He was the mixed doubles badminton champion at the 2012 London Olympics and the men’s doubles badminton champion at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Zhang Nan is the second player in the history of the Olympic Games and the first Chinese player to hold Olympic gold medals in men’s doubles and mixed doubles. The first mixed doubles triple champion in the history of the World Championships. He is also a Grand Slam athlete who has won the Olympic Games, the World Championships, the Asian Games, the Asian Championships, the Military Games, the All England Championships, and a number of Badminton World Federation Super Series and Finals.

Zhang Nan was born in Beijing to an ordinary family. His mother retired long ago, while his father worked as a cab driver. His parents sent him to play sports because he was weak and prone to illness. At the age of 9, Zhang Nan started practicing badminton in an amateur youth class in the city, and after less than two years of learning, he won first place in the singles tournament of the Beijing Primary B Group, and then entered the Shichahai Sports School to receive formal training. At the age of 14, Zhang Nan officially joined the Beijing badminton team and practiced with his coach Xiao Hui. When he first joined the team, he was still a singles player, but the coaching staff thought that he was tall, flexible, quick to react at the net, and had better doubles awareness and anticipation, so they moved him into the doubles team. His performance was so outstanding after switching to doubles that he was soon recommended to try out for the national team and was successfully selected for the second team of the Chinese national badminton team.

In 2008, Zhang Nan represented the national team at the World Junior Badminton Championships in Pune, India, where he and Lu Lu reached the mixed doubles final, but were defeated by teammates Chai Biao/Jing Xie 0-2 (19-21, 15-21), finishing second. Early the following year, Zhang Nan paired up with Lu Lu in the Philippine Badminton Golden Grand Prix and won the title, his first open title in the adult category.

In 2009, Zhang Nan was promoted to the first team with a few teammates, initially as a coach, but in less than a year, he was selected for the 2010 Thomas Cup, and eventually helped the Chinese men’s team to win the Thomas Cup, winning his first world championship title.

Since then, due to the reorganization of the national team in response to the changes in the Olympic rules and format, Zhang Nan has been focusing more on mixed doubles; he and his partner Zhao Yunlei won the All England Badminton Superseries, the Japan Badminton Superseries, as well as the second place in the China Badminton Superseries and Hong Kong Badminton Superseries, and their performance has attracted a lot of attention. In November of the same year, Zhang Nan represented China at the Guangzhou Asian Games, winning one gold and one silver in the mixed doubles and men’s team events.

In 2011, Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei’s combination continued to go from strength to strength, winning the Korea Premier Superseries, Asian Championships, Indonesia Premier Superseries, Hong Kong Superseries, China Premier Superseries and Badminton World Federation Superseries Finals; and in the World Badminton Championships held in London in August, defeating the host combination of Chris Edcock/Imogen Bankier 2-0 (21-15, 21-7). In August, Zhang Nan won the World Badminton Championships in London with a 2-0 (21-15, 21-7) victory over the host team of Chris Edelkirk/Imogen Banker, winning the World Championships for the first time, and helping the national team to win the World Championships for the second consecutive year.

In July 2012, Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei represented China in the Olympic Games held in London, England. Badminton tournament in the mixed doubles event, and were seeded as the top pair. In the group stage, they easily defeated the combinations of Germany, Russia, and Great Britain to advance to the knockout rounds at the top of their group; and defeated Denmark’s Thomas Rebhorn/Camilla Rütter Juhl and Joakim Fischer Nielsen/Christina Petersen in the last eight and semifinal rounds, 2-0 and 2-1, respectively, to meet their teammates in the final. In the final, Zhang Nan/Zhao Yunlei defeated Xu Chen/Ma Jin 2-0 (21-11, 21-17) to win the Chinese delegation’s 20th gold of that Olympics, and to become China’s first ever Olympic couples’ champion.

On August 17, 2016, Zhang Nan won the third place in mixed doubles badminton at the Rio Olympics. On August 20, the Rio Olympics badminton men’s doubles final, Fu Haifeng/Zhang Nan defeated the Malaysian duo Wu Weisheng/Chen Weiqiang 2-1, and the national badminton men’s doubles defended their title, which was the first gold of the national badminton team in the Rio Olympics.

On August 28, 2017, in the men’s doubles final of the World Badminton Championships, Liu Cheng/Zhang Nan played well, and it only took 37 minutes to win two consecutive victories over the Indonesian duo Asan/Saputro with 21-10 and 21-17, and got the World Championships title for the first time, and China won the men’s doubles title at the World Championships again since 2011, and Zhang Nan won the world title in both men’s doubles and mixed doubles events.

On May 27, 2018, the 2018 Thomas Cup came to a close in Bangkok, Thailand, with Zhang Nan and teammates Chen Long, Liu Cheng, Shi Yuqi, Li Junhui, and Liu Yuchen winning the title with a 3-1 comeback victory over Japan.

On August 23, 2018, the Chinese men’s team consisting of Shi Yuqi, Li Junhui, Liu Yuchen, Chen Long, Liu Cheng and Zhang Nan won the men’s men’s badminton team final of the Asian Games in Jakarta with a 3-1 victory over the host Indonesian men’s team.

On October 23, 2019, the men’s badminton team of the 7th World Military Games, China defeated South Korea 3-0 and won the gold medal in the men’s badminton team competition of this year’s Military Games. Men’s doubles Zhang Nan/Tan Qiang won the championship.

On May 2, 2021, in the men’s doubles final of the 2021 National Badminton Championships and Qualifying Tournament for the National Games badminton event held in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, Beijing’s pair Zhang Nan/Feng Yanzhe lost to Guangdong’s pair Ren Xiangyu/Liang Weikang 0-2, and won the second place.

On January 24, 2022, Huang Zhanzhong, head coach of the men’s doubles group of the Chinese badminton team, introduced in an interview that Zhang Nan and Liu Cheng, the men’s doubles champions of the 2017 World Badminton Championships, will be re-partnered to join hands in launching their impact and challenge towards the Paris Olympics.

On August 20, 2022, Zhang Nan announced on his personal social media that he was quitting the national team, but would continue to compete as a professional player.

World Ranking – Men’s Doubles 698, Week 36, 2024

Olympic Points – Men’s Doubles 677, 1290 points

Finals Ranking – Men’s Doubles 207, 1290 points