Source:REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed
[Saba Sports News] During the badminton competition at the Paris Olympics, Chinese athlete He Bingjiao undoubtedly became the biggest beneficiary and the biggest loser. In the women’s singles semi-finals, He Bingjiao’s opponent was Rio Olympics women’s singles champion Carolina Marin Martin. In the match, Marin suffered an injury while leading 1-0 and sadly retired, allowing He Bingjiao to advance to the finals. In the women’s singles final, He Bingjiao had almost no resistance against South Korean newcomer An Se-young. In the end, An Se-young easily defeated He Bingjiao 2-0 and won the Olympic badminton women’s singles gold medal. After the match, He Bingjiao faced criticism from many fans for not showing enough resistance and fighting spirit, and even faced online harassment. After failing to win the gold medal in women’s singles, He Bingjiao was forced to apologize to the fans on social media. Presumably due to the online harassment, on August 13, 27-year-old He Bingjiao suddenly announced her retirement. It is reported that He Bingjiao has submitted a retirement application to the Badminton World Federation and will no longer participate in international-level competitions. According to the latest world rankings released by the BWF, He Bingjiao, who was previously ranked seventh in women’s singles badminton, has now disappeared from the list, which means she will officially bid farewell to her beloved badminton court.