Vantaa, Finland, October 3, 2021: China added another golden chapter to their Sudirman Cup success story, claiming their 12th world mixed team crown by beating Japan 3-1 in the TotalEnergies BWF Sudirman Cup final on Sunday.
Japan, seeking to overturn the result at the last edition where they were blown away 3-0 by China, had to be content yet again with finishing second-best.
Chinese coach Zhang Jun later talked of trust in the young members of the team, in their ability to stand their ground on the big occasion.
“After the Olympics, we could motivate the team once again,” he said. “We lacked some of our best men’s doubles players for the Sudirman Cup, and we had some difficulties against Thailand and Denmark, but we decided to use our young players and we trusted their ability, and they did really well today.”
China’s victories came in the men’s doubles (He Jiting and Zhou Haodong), men’s singles (Shi Yuqi) and women’s doubles (Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan).
Japan’s lone point came from Akane Yamaguchi in the women’s singles, beating Tokyo Olympic champion Chen Yufei.