Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong: Playing despite illness

Jayce September 6, 2024 8 0

The Malaysian Open mixed doubles quarter-finals were held in the morning. Both Chinese mixed doubles pairs played against Korean pairs. In the end, Jiang Zhenbang/Wei Yaxin made it to the semi-finals, while Zheng Siwei / Huang Yaqiong were restricted by their physical condition and failed to advance after three rounds. In this match, the two “Yasi” were at different stages of illness, each with physical discomfort, from “trying to play” to “having a good chance but not grasping it”, which fully explained how to try to score when in poor physical condition.

Huang Yaqiong was already ill before the competition. When I saw Yaqiong on the first day in Kuala Lumpur, her voice was so nasal that I couldn’t recognize her. She joked, “I haven’t been sick for a long time. The last time I was still positive, I couldn’t hold on this time.” When the competition started, Zheng Siwei also began to show signs of illness, but Yaqiong’s symptoms were stronger at that time.

After that, they won two games in a row and advanced to the quarterfinals. Yaqiong’s health gradually improved, but Zheng Siwei began to feel a fever. He said after the game today: “I felt a headache when I got up this morning. I thought I couldn’t play well, but later I wanted to play and see if some other tactics and techniques would work.” Facing the Korean combination Kim Won-ho/Jung Na-eun, who had won two games and lost two games before, “Yasi” lost 11-21 in the first game today. Everyone could see their “unusualness”: Siwei’s smashes decreased, and he often stayed in front of the net, while Yaqiong ran around in the backcourt. The division of labor between the two seemed to have been reversed.

In fact, as early as during the warm-up, after playing two balls, Yaqiong felt that she would have to take on more responsibilities today, and she would have to “do a great job” at the host net. She did not feel stressed at the time, and she even tried to mobilize her emotions in a humorous way. She told the physical training teacher: “Today I must run more and kill more in the backcourt. You can prepare a stretcher for me to leave the court.”

After losing the first game, their “anti-mixed doubles” tactics worked repeatedly, winning the second game 21-18, and the game became suspenseful again, and their desire to win was rekindled. In the final game, Zheng Siwei had many more kills than in the first two games, and the two sides entered multiple rounds several times, including the ball that was penalized by the referee for “touching the net post” when the score was 15-17. Both sides were too focused to hear the referee’s repeated shouting of “violation”.

The referee believed that Huang Yaqiong’s foot touched the support at the bottom of the net post, and immediately shouted “violation” and made a stop gesture, trying to pause the ongoing round. However, the game was fierce, the venue was noisy, and the referees of the two venues were wearing headsets, and the sound would affect each other through the on-site loudspeakers. Due to multiple factors, it was not until the two sides finished playing this ball that “Yaqiong” knew that they had violated the rules.

This incident happened at the end of the fierce final game, and coupled with factors such as illness and key points, the penalty for this ball also caused a lot of discussion. But putting aside the outcome of this ball, or even the final result, today Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong fully demonstrated the spirit of going all out to win under unfavorable circumstances and not giving up points casually. Faced with physical discomfort and the pain of losing, they still tried to analyze the game after the game: “I didn’t expect our changes to work. In fact, today’s final game was a key node. We had a chance, but we didn’t hold on when it was 6-6.”

In addition to “IELTS”, many players are also welcoming the first race of 2024 while sick. Many players, such as Huang Dongping, Li Shifeng, etc., are in different stages of illness. They are also actively adjusting and trying their best to win on the field, not only for this race, but also for the next few races. From Beijing, where the temperature is below zero, to tropical Kuala Lumpur, not only is the temperature difference between the two places large, but the temperature difference between indoors and outdoors, and inside and outside the car in Kuala Lumpur is also large. I hope everyone will take care of their health and be in better physical condition to meet more challenges in the new year.