On January 9th, the second round of the Malaysia Badminton Open was in full swing, and a men's doubles match unexpectedly caused a stir. The young Chinese pair Liu Yi and Chen Boyang defeated the Olympic champion duo Wang Qilin and his new partner Qiu Xiangkun with a score of 2-1, successfully advancing to the quarterfinals.
Wang Qilin, the legendary player who won gold medals in men's doubles at both the Tokyo Olympics and Paris Olympics with Li Yang, did not see a decrease in strength despite changes in his partner. After creating brilliance with Li Yang, Wang Qilin teamed up with Qiu Xiangkun and quickly rose to prominence after the Paris Olympics. In the first round, they defeated the current world No. 1 combination of Astrup and Anders with a score of 2-1, demonstrating their strong competitiveness.
However, when facing the Chinese youngsters Liu Yi and Chen Boyang in the second round, Wang Qilin and Qiu Xiangkun encountered an unprecedented challenge. Although this Chinese pair only debuted on the international stage in 2024, their performance was impressive. In the first game, Liu Yi and Chen Boyang took the lead with a slight advantage of 21-17, thanks to their more relaxed mentality and proactive offensive strategy.
In the second game, Wang Qilin and Qiu Xiangkun utilized their height advantage, adopting a tactic of pressing from behind and sealing from the front, gradually taking control of the game rhythm and winning the game with a score of 21-16. However, in the crucial third game, Liu Yi and Chen Boyang showed excellent tactical adjustment ability. They maintained the lead by quickly connecting and seizing the net, eventually securing victory with a score of 21-15, thus defeating their opponents with a big score of 2-1 and advancing to the quarterfinals in a surprising upset.
The outstanding performance of Liu Yi and Chen Boyang undoubtedly injected new vitality into China's men's doubles. Currently, China's men's doubles mainly relies on the Liang Wang combination in international competitions, but their performance is still unstable. The rise of Liu Yi and Chen Boyang has undoubtedly added more possibilities to the future of China's men's doubles.
In addition, in other matches on that day, the Chinese pair Cheng Xing and Zhang Chi defeated the Kapila and Krasto combination with scores of 21-13 and 22-20, successfully advancing. The Japanese pair Ryokawa Daisuke and Saito Natsu also easily defeated the Deyan and Vidjaja combination with a score of 2-0, advancing to the next round as well.