On the afternoon of the first working day after the Mid-Autumn Festival, thunderous cheers erupted in the Changzhou Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium, which was a congratulation to Lei Lanxi for "slaying the dragon". Three days ago, Lei Lanxi, who was defeated by Olympic champion Axelsen 9-21, 12-21 in the final of the Hong Kong Open in China, suffered a big upset in the first round of the Super 1000 China Open three days later - with Defeated Axelsen 21-19, 17-21, 21-16. "Thor" is only ranked 28th in the world and fifth in the national badminton men's singles group. Originally, the outside world did not have high hopes for him to play Axelsen, but this unexpected victory may be in response to the "Shibie" In three days, you will be even more impressed."
"He put a lot of pressure on me, and it was an insurmountable feeling." Looking back at the final three days ago, Lei Lanxi described Axelsen as an insurmountable presence. The 1.94-meter Dane built half of the court. The defensive net is like an iron wall. "He is very strong. I always want to break through him with one or two shots, but he can't be 'killed' with one or two shots." Facing the men's singles at the Tokyo and Paris Olympic Games The champion, Lei Lanxi, who faced Axelsen for the first time, became more and more discouraged at the time. "When I fall behind, I feel that my opponent is very strong, and my self-confidence is not enough."
In just three days, the two met again. What the outside world thought was a bad luck draw turned out to be an unexpected joy. In the first game, Lei Lanxi twice established an advantage of four or five points, but Axelsen gradually caught up with him. However, at the critical moment, Lei Lanxi won the first victory 21-19; in the second game, Axelsen had the upper hand. Lei Lanxi worked hard to narrow the point difference. After the two tied at 17, the Dane scored four consecutive points to regain the victory. The deciding game was quite similar to the first game. Lei Lanxi entered the technical interval with a score of 11-5. , but Axelsen used multiple shots to continuously approach the score, and the point difference was once narrowed to two points. "I was very, very tired at that time. It can be seen with the naked eye that he caught up with the score." Lei Lanxi reflected after the game that in that situation, if he didn't fight, he would definitely be very sorry. "So I had many times Flying to save the ball, thinking about trying to save every point."
After not seeing each other for three days, Lei Lanxi not only gained patience, but also gained more confidence. Reporters couldn't help but wonder after the game - what did coach Sun Jun teach in the "Dragon Slaying Crash Course"? Lei Lanxi revealed: "Actually, from a technical and tactical point of view, as long as I give full play to myself, I will be effective, but the more change is that coach Sun Jun tries his best to make me more confident. Because I am relatively introverted in life and do not I was too confident, so the coach gave me more confidence-building encouragement.”
In the national team, Lei Lanxi is two years younger than Shi Yuqi, Lu Guangzu, Zhao Junpeng and other Mesozoic players, and he is similar in age to Weng Hongyang. , and the younger Li Shifeng has become the No. 2 men’s singles player in the country. Lei Lanxi has always been the fifth or sixth player in the team, ranked in the middle of the pack. The 26-year-old only entered the Super 1000 stage this year and got the opportunity to compete with the world's top men's singles players. Last week's Hong Kong Open was a breakthrough in Lei Lanxi's career. He defeated teammate Weng Hongyang, Korean golfer Quan Yichen , and Hong Kong star Lee Cheuk-yao to enter the semi-finals, until he upset Indonesian brother Qiao in the semi-finals. In the Natan battle, the outside world finally noticed the outbreak of "little transparency". This is Lei Lanxi's first Super 500 final in his career, and he has the opportunity to face Axelsen for the first time. Such high-level experience has allowed Lei Lanxi to grow rapidly, and he can gain from winning or losing.
Of course, one "slaying the dragon" cannot explain much. Nowadays, the world badminton men's singles field is showing a strong pattern. The dominance of Axelsen, who once dominated the world badminton, has declined. This year, he has been defeated by Shi Yuqi, Wang Ziwei, Jin Ting, Da Popov, Zhou Tiancheng, etc. He was defeated by many people and was surpassed by Shi Yuqi in the world rankings, ranking second. But it has to be said that Axelsen, who has reservations in the tour, is still unbeatable in the Olympics. The 30-year-old Dane is a benchmark for measuring the level of first-class players.Axelsen attributed his "one-round trip" to the China Open to the impact of the typhoon, which "arrived in Changzhou at eight o'clock last night", resulting in insufficient preparation, and "the wind in the venue was too strong" was also an objective factor. For most players, "slaying the dragon" is an accidental event and an achievement worth being proud of. Of course, Axelsen also said that he is happy to see the competitive landscape of the world badminton men's singles arena become more open, "this is a good thing."
Like the No. 2 seed Axelsen, the men's singles seeds who were eliminated in the first round of the China Open include No. 3 seed Li Zijia and No. 4 seed Li Shifeng. As a result, who will win the gold medal becomes a more open question. . Among the five national badminton men's singles contestants, Shi Yuqi, Weng Hongyang, and Lei Lanxi advanced smoothly and faced Jin Ting, Zhou Tiancheng, and Nishimoto Kenta in the second round respectively; Li Shifeng lost to Chinese Taipei brother Zhou Tiancheng, and Lu Guangzu lost to Chinese Taipei Contestant Li Jiahao missed the top 16. After the Paris Olympics, facing the increasingly complex competitive landscape in the men's singles arena, it is worth looking forward to what kind of performance the national feathers can perform in the first Super 1000 match.
(our newspaper’s special call from Changzhou on September 18)
Author: Wu Shu
Text: Reporter of this newspaper/Wu Shu Picture: Visual China Editor: Gu Miao Editor-in-chief: Shen Lei
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