China’s badminton player Huang Ya Qiong experienced both gold and diamonds at the Olympics today.
Huang, along with her partner Zheng Siwei, triumphed over South Korea’s Kim Won-ho and Jeong Na-eun with scores of 21-8, 21-11 in the mixed doubles final, concluding an undefeated run in Paris. Shortly after receiving her gold medal, Huang accepted a wedding proposal from Li Yuchen, another member of China’s badminton team.
“For me, the proposal is very surprising because I have been preparing for the game,” Huang said through an interpreter. “Today I am an Olympic champion and I got proposed to, so that’s something I didn’t expect.”
Huang and Zheng, who were silver medalists at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, went 3-0 in group play to secure the top seed for the quarterfinals. They completed the tournament with a perfect 6-0 record, not dropping a single game.
Zheng shared that he had gotten engaged three years ago after losing in the final and believes this experience is even more rewarding for his partner. “I think it must be happier for her,” he said. “Last time it was purely for my proposal, but this time is basically double lucky things happening at the same time.”
In the bronze-medal match, Japan’s Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino defeated South Korea’s Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yu-jung with scores of 21-13, 22-20. While they repeated their bronze-medal success from the Tokyo Olympics, they expressed disappointment in not achieving a higher place. “The bronze medal is not the best,” Yuta said. “I wanted the gold medal, but this is better than nothing.”
China has now clinched mixed doubles badminton gold at consecutive Olympics and has won the event five out of eight times since it became a medal sport in Atlanta in 1996. Wang Yilyu retired after winning gold in Tokyo with Huang Dong Ping, who partnered with Feng Yan Zhe in Paris, but they lost to Zheng and Huang in the quarterfinals.
China is also guaranteed to dominate in women’s doubles badminton, with Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan set to face Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning in an all-China final on Saturday.