China welcomes badminton season finale in style as Seo Seung Jae and An Se Young win Players of the Year
Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen won the men’s singles at the season-ending HSBC BWF World Tour finals
HANGZHOU, December 24, 2023 - The city of Hangzhou hosted the HSBC BWF World Tour finals from December 13-17th for the first time, with Viktor Axelsen and Tai Tzu Ying coming out as winners in the singles’ events.
There were still signs of the Asian Paragames all over the city when the badminton community set foot in Hangzhou, mid-december, for the highlight of the season – the World Tour Finals. This event is a 5 day event where only the top 8 players and pairs from the year-long HSBC World Tour qualify. And the event took place in a state-of-the-art stadium which had welcome Asia’s biggest sports events just a few months before, with a real “savoir-faire” and friendly volunteers up to the task to welcome foreign delegations. The weather was of course much colder than when the whole continent had gathered last August, but there was warmth in the way the local organizers had prepared the event with a red carpet prepared for the top World shuttlers.
PLAYERS OF THE YEAR Symbolically during the Gala dinner prior to the competition, where the stars had dressed up to the occasion and when the Players of the Year awards were celebrated – Seo Seung Jae and An Se Young for Korea won best male and female award as expected after their tremendous year, while 3 Chinese pairs were given a prize as well – Jia/Chen as best pair, Liu/Tan as most promising pair and Jiang/Wei as most improved pair.
VICTORY FOR VIKTOR The red carpet atmosphere was less of a symbol when the competition began as the courts’ tones matched China’s lucky colour as well as the title sponsor’s logo. But it was not to be China’s clean sweep – Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen made sure that he would secure his fifth World Tour Finals title after another crazy year for the Dane. Even if he had lost to Shi Yuqi in the group stage, he still qualified and went on to beat his compatriot Anders Antonsen in the semi-final, before tasting sweet revenge in the Final, beating the home favourite, Shi Yuqi, 21-11, 21-12. The crowd of 10 000 spectators had no choice but applaud the Scandinavian, who is very much appreciated in China as he not only speaks fluent Mandarin, but also speaks Chinese to his daughters.
TAI WINS THE WOMEN'S EVENT In the women’s single event, Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu Ying is a survivor, coming back from a 10-19 deficit in the last game of her semi-final against Korea’s An Se Young, but the witty Tai managed to win this match before beating her final opponent, Spain’s former Olympic Champion Carolina Marin. By doing so, Tai secured a 200 000 US $ prize check – the biggest ever prize money for a tournament as the overall tournament prize money had risen to an unprecedented 2,5 millions US$.
DOUBLES China still had some luck in other events, as Zheng Siwei / Huang Yaqiong won the mixed double, Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan won the women’s double event, while the local duo of Liang/Chan had to bow to Korea’s World Champions Seo Seung Jae and Kang Min Huyk.
END OF SEASON The season is now officially over for badminton after a tournament well run, with a packed stadium most days and packed media rooms – mostly from local media, but not only. The players will now rest for a while before heading to Malaysia for the first major event of 2024 – one of the 4 Major Super 1000 tournaments. Meanwhile the Para-badminton community is also preparing for another season, with the last event being held in Dubai in December as well was important as one of the last qualifying tournaments for Paris Paralympic Games – only one remaining in 2024.
There were still signs of the Asian Paragames all over the city when the badminton community set foot in Hangzhou, mid-december, for the highlight of the season – the World Tour Finals. This event is a 5 day event where only the top 8 players and pairs from the year-long HSBC World Tour qualify. And the event took place in a state-of-the-art stadium which had welcome Asia’s biggest sports events just a few months before, with a real “savoir-faire” and friendly volunteers up to the task to welcome foreign delegations. The weather was of course much colder than when the whole continent had gathered last August, but there was warmth in the way the local organizers had prepared the event with a red carpet prepared for the top World shuttlers.
PLAYERS OF THE YEAR Symbolically during the Gala dinner prior to the competition, where the stars had dressed up to the occasion and when the Players of the Year awards were celebrated – Seo Seung Jae and An Se Young for Korea won best male and female award as expected after their tremendous year, while 3 Chinese pairs were given a prize as well – Jia/Chen as best pair, Liu/Tan as most promising pair and Jiang/Wei as most improved pair.
VICTORY FOR VIKTOR The red carpet atmosphere was less of a symbol when the competition began as the courts’ tones matched China’s lucky colour as well as the title sponsor’s logo. But it was not to be China’s clean sweep – Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen made sure that he would secure his fifth World Tour Finals title after another crazy year for the Dane. Even if he had lost to Shi Yuqi in the group stage, he still qualified and went on to beat his compatriot Anders Antonsen in the semi-final, before tasting sweet revenge in the Final, beating the home favourite, Shi Yuqi, 21-11, 21-12. The crowd of 10 000 spectators had no choice but applaud the Scandinavian, who is very much appreciated in China as he not only speaks fluent Mandarin, but also speaks Chinese to his daughters.
TAI WINS THE WOMEN'S EVENT In the women’s single event, Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu Ying is a survivor, coming back from a 10-19 deficit in the last game of her semi-final against Korea’s An Se Young, but the witty Tai managed to win this match before beating her final opponent, Spain’s former Olympic Champion Carolina Marin. By doing so, Tai secured a 200 000 US $ prize check – the biggest ever prize money for a tournament as the overall tournament prize money had risen to an unprecedented 2,5 millions US$.
DOUBLES China still had some luck in other events, as Zheng Siwei / Huang Yaqiong won the mixed double, Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan won the women’s double event, while the local duo of Liang/Chan had to bow to Korea’s World Champions Seo Seung Jae and Kang Min Huyk.
END OF SEASON The season is now officially over for badminton after a tournament well run, with a packed stadium most days and packed media rooms – mostly from local media, but not only. The players will now rest for a while before heading to Malaysia for the first major event of 2024 – one of the 4 Major Super 1000 tournaments. Meanwhile the Para-badminton community is also preparing for another season, with the last event being held in Dubai in December as well was important as one of the last qualifying tournaments for Paris Paralympic Games – only one remaining in 2024.
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