Top badminton stories of 2024 (pt.1)

2024 was a huge year for badminton with the Paris 2024 Olympics, the emergence of new fan favourites, the loss of existing fan favourites, and seeing the game evolve!

We have taken a look at the top badminton stories of 2024 and given you our 10 favourites.

Zheng Siwei Retired in his prime!

In November 2024, Chinese phenom Zheng Siwei announced his intention to retire at the end of the 2024 season. This is the same season in which he and partner Huang Yaqiong took home Olympic gold in mixed doubles for China!

Zheng Siwei cited a desire to be home and balance work with family life as the reason he decided to retire from international competition. Zheng Siwei proposed to his now wife, Liu Yuwen, a former gymnast, after his silver medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. They married in 2021 and have a 2-year-old son called Aidan.

It’s not completely clear what his motivation was to retire now. As a professional athlete, it can be very stressful, especially with so much travelling to tournaments and training camps, perhaps he had enough of that life? Maybe he felt he already achieved all the success he wanted? Maybe he has already made enough money and now has other opportunities he didn’t before?

What do you think the reason was?

No matter the reason we thank him for the years of entertainment and hope he stays involved with badminton for years to come.

Carolina Marin injured AGAIN!

Carolina Marin was a dominant force in badminton for years until she started to pick up serious injuries. Characterised by her resilience and fierce competitive spirit, Marin has been the trailblazer for European Women in badminton.

She first got injured back in January 2019 with an ACL tear to her right knee. She had surgery and returned to badminton 8 months later. Carolina was training in June 2021, preparing for the Tokyo Olympics, when she tore her Left ACL. This leads us to 2024, where she had successfully qualified for the Olympics and was looking back to her best. She beat everyone on the tour and was the only player to rival hotshot An Se Young. She dominantly stormed into the semi-final. Even in the semi-final, she dominated the match, looking primed to make the final until she once again tore her ACL in her right knee.

True to her resilient spirit, she tried to play on with a knee brace but could not continue, falling to the floor in tears, broken by another injury. The only question now is, will she ever come back?

Check out this interesting perspective from This Is Badminton YouTube channel…

The tragic death of Zhang Zhijie of China!

In June 2024, the Asian Junior Championships were held in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. All the top junior players from the best teams were competing, including Zhang Zhijie of China. Zhang was seen as a bright prospect in Chinese badminton, already competing on the junior world tour, winning the Dutch Jr Open, and runner-up at the German Jr Open.

The 17-year-old was part of the Chinese team competing at the event. He was trusted with men’s singles against Singapore in the second team match against Singapore, winning his singles match 21-10 21-11. There were no signs of injury or illness.

It was his second match, China’s third, against Japan, where the tragedy occurred. Zhang was trusted again, after his assured performance against Singapore, with the men’s singles match. It was a lively start with both him and his opponent, Kazuma Kawano, looking evenly matched in the early stages. At this point, Zhang retrieved the shuttle for his opponent, who had just pulled level in the match. Walking to the back of the court, asking to change the shuttle, hitting the shuttle to his opponent, and retreating to his service position.

In a split second, he went from looking composed to looking unstable on his feet. His legs were shaking, wobbling, and unable to hold his weight. It was clear something was badly wrong as he fell forward onto his front. Less than a second after hitting the ground, he started convulsing and seizing. A shocking scene for everyone in the arena.

The only thing more shocking? The lack of action taken by anyone in the arena, from his coaches to the referees and medical staff. Even stopping to get permission to go to court to treat the downed player, rather than rushing to the aid of a clearly distressed and suffering young man.

Zhang was taken away to the hospital, but it was reported he passed away due to a sudden cardiac arrest later that day. Our thoughts and wishes are with all of Team China and the family of Zhang Zhijie.

An Se Young dominating women’s singles…

It is hard to believe that An Se Young is only 21 years old! The phenom broke into the top 100 when she was only 16 in 2018 and played her first Olympics at Tokyo 2020.

In 2024, she made 7 finals in her 11 tournaments and claimed 5 titles. The Malaysia Open, French Open, Singapore Open, and Chinese Masters as well as Olympic Gold in Paris!

The trend for An Se Young is looking extremely positive, starting to look as dominant as the Lin Dan era for men’s singles. The only question now is, who can challenge her? Who will emerge to push her to greatness?

An Se Young uses her power to pressure BKA…

Making her second appearance on this list, proving her influence this year, An Se Young spoke out and criticised the Badminton Korea Federation. This was clearly something on her mind, something she had planned to say as she made the comments in the post-match press conference of the final. Thinking about these issues on what should be the best day of her career speaks volumes.

Her comments about BKF focused on a few core issues. Several of which clearly show she is not only thinking of herself but also of her teammates.

• How the federation ignored and mismanaged her knee injury in 2023.
• Restrictive policies that stop players from competing in tournaments unless they meet very oppressive restrictions, such as 5 years in the national team, or they are over a certain age.
• The favouritism of doubles players over singles players.
• The inappropriate use of junior players to conduct menial tasks for senior players and officials.

Here is a report from the time from a Korean news source: https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2024-08-05/sports/olympics/An-Seyoung-floats-quitting-Korea-after-Olympic-gold-over-how-staff-handled-injury/2106350

In response, the South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism launched an investigation into the allegations and actions of BKF. To date, this has resulted in:

• BKA President Kim Taek-gyu was dismissed due to reported embezzlement of funds, mismanagement, and verbal abuse.
• The elimination of restrictive policies on non-national team players relating to age and experience criteria.
• Improved injury management guidelines for the better treatment and management of injuries for all players.
• Improved athlete welfare practices, such as removing non-sport-related duties for junior players, individual training programs, and better living conditions.
• A review of the sponsorship and compensation policies, as players previously participated in sponsor events with no compensation. Players are also now able to sign individual sponsorship agreements for equipment.

Only time will tell if these will be lasting changes…

Here is a great perspective from Ben Beckman on the situation: