PARIS: After China’s shuttler Huang Ya Qiong secured a gold medal in the mixed team event at the Paris Olympics, fellow badminton player Liu Yu Chen proposed to her, making her triumph even more memorable.
The Paris Olympics has been the place for athletes to propose to their partners. Before the Summer Games in Paris, Argentina’s Pablo Simonet proposed to Pilar Campoy, his longtime partner.
On Friday, Huang Ya Qiong stood at the podium alongside Zheng Siwei following their 21-8, 21-11 win in the final over South Korea’s Kim Won-ho and Jeong Na-eun in the mixed team event.
After her triumph, Liu got down to one knee and proposed to Ya Qiong in front of a packed crowd. The three-time world champion said ‘yes’, and now she will return to China with a gold and a ring on her finger.
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Huang Ya Qiong and Liu Yu Chen went unbeaten throughout the event. They won their three games in the group stage and three more in the knockout stage to make it 6-0.
In the bronze medal match, Japan’s Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino ousted South Korea’s Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yu-jung with a 21-13, 22-20 win.
In the Tokyo Olympics, the Japanese duo won the bronze medal. After the win, Yuta expressed his disappointment in not improving the colour of the medal. “The bronze medal is not the best. I wanted the gold medal, but this is better than nothing”, Yuta said as quoted from ESPN.
Huang Ya Qiong and Zheng Siwei’s triumph ensured China bagged back-to-back gold medals at the Olympics in the mixed doubles event. They have won five golds out of the past eight times.
China is also assured of a gold or silver medal in the women’s doubles badminton event. In an all-China final on Saturday, Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan will face Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning. (ANI)