Source: Reuters/Bazuki Muhammad
[Saba Sports News] The badminton competition at the Paris Olympic Games will take place from July 27 to August 5. Several top players from traditional strong teams such as South Korea and Indonesia have arrived in Paris two weeks in advance for acclimatization training, eyeing the gold medal. Yesterday, the Chinese badminton team also departed for Paris. During a pre-match press conference, Zhang Jun, Chairman of the Chinese Badminton Association, issued a directive in an interview with Xinhua News Agency, instructing the team to strive for medals in all five badminton events. The Chinese team’s goal for the Paris Olympics is to “secure two gold medals, contend for three, and aim for four.” It is reported that the seedings for badminton players in each event at the Paris Olympic Games will be based on the world rankings as of July 9. This means that Shi Yu Qi, the Chinese men’s singles player, the men’s doubles pair of Liang Wei Keng/Wang Chang, and the women’s doubles pair of Chen Qing Chen/Jia Yifan, as well as the mixed doubles pair Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong, will compete as top seeds. The defending Olympic champion in women’s singles, Chen Yufei, will be seeded second. As the only team with full participation in all individual events, the Chinese badminton team has the ability to compete for medals in all five events.