Lingshui: The 2023 China Badminton Super League (CBSL) has officially kicked off its first day of the tournament on Feb 12, 2023, and 8 badminton clubs in China will be competing for the league championship in the 10-day competition.
This was the first time the CBSL has been held since September 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2023 CBSL is following the mixed team structure (men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles, and mixed doubles) with an 11×5 scoring format. The league will begin with its regular season followed by the playoffs where only the best teams could make it to the playoffs.
On the first night of 2023 CBSL, Indonesia’s World No. 3 men’s pair – Hendra Setiawan/Mohammad Ahsan who were playing for the Ruichang badminton club, faced tough challenges from young Chinese pair – Chen Xujun/Xie Haonan from the Zhejiang team, before seeing off the Chinese pair 12-10, 9-11, 11-6, 2-11, 11-8 to score the second point for their club.
Highlights of Hendra Setiawan/Mohammad Ahsan vs. Chen Xujun/Xie Haonan at the 2023 China Badminton Super League (CBSL):
Earlier in the tie, Li Wenshu/Liu Xuanxuan won the first point for Ruichang, before the men’s singles World No. 20 Li Shifeng who also played for Ruichang, was upset by Sun Chao of Zhejiang.
Nevertheless, the crowd didn’t get a chance to watch the face-off in the women’s singles match between World No. 5 He Bingjiao (Ruichang) and the Tokyo Olympics champion Chen Yufei (Zhejiang) as Chen did not play. He eventually sealed the victory for the Ruichang team by beating Han Qianxi 11-9, 11-3, 11-8. Ruichang ultimately won the tie with an overall score of 3-2.
In another tie, the Xiamen scored a 5-0 win over the Hefei team. In the men’s singles match, World No. 27 Weng Hong Yang of Xiamen was struggling before coming from behind to beat Dong Tianxiao 8-11, 11-7, 11-4, 6-11, 11-8. The World No. 6 women’s singles player Wang Zhiyi of Xiamen then defeated Wu Luoyu who just made the China senior national team this year, 11-6, 11-7, 11-3.
Xiamen then sent two top representatives from the Chinese national team in the doubles events. Liu Yuchen/Ou Xuanyi defeated Liu Yang/Liu Yi 8-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-9, while Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong outlasted their opponents 15-13, 14-12, 1-11, 11-5. In the fifth match, Yan Chenxue/Xie Yujia narrowly saw off Wang Tinge/Wang Zimeng 7-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-9 to wrap up the tie for Xiamen with an overall score of 5-0.
