Confidence-booster: Zhang Beiwen with her Australian Open trophy.
PETALING JAYA: Breaking into the top 10 in the world once again is the perfect fuel to fire women’s singles shuttler Zhang Beiwen to achieve the impossible in the World Championships starting tomorrow in Copenhagen.
The 33-year-old Beiwen from the United States reached the No. 10 position after defeating South Korean Kim Ga-Eun 20-22, 21-16, 21-8 in the final of the Australian Open recently.
It was her best ranking since August 2019 to show that she had regained her form since suffering a serious Achilles injury at the Tokyo Olympics.
Buoyed by the rise in her ranking, Beiwen will be out to break her third-round jinx in the world meet after crashing out at the same stage in her previous three appearances.
This year, Beiwen has been handed with a tricky draw but she is looking positive towards her outing in Copenhagen.
She has received a bye in the first round and will take on either Scotland’s world No. 27 Kirsty Gilmour or France’s world No. 41 Lianne Tan in the second.
Her real challenge begins in the third round where she faces reigning All-England champion and world No. 1 An Se-young of South Korea.
Beiwen lost to Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-Ying, India’s P. V. Sindhu and Se-young in the third round of the 2018, 2019 and 2022 editions respectively.
“Winning the Australian Open gave me a lot of confidence, it told me what has worked over the last year,” Beiwen told Badminton World Federation (BWF).
“I can see myself getting better, getting back to my level and I can see from my videos that I’m moving smoothly on the court. I don’t set a goal (for this World Championships).
“Every tournament is important for me, because I will retire after the Olympics, so I’m looking to improve my level before I retire.
“I’m looking forward to playing Se-young, because last year also I played her.
“I played pretty badly because my leg wasn’t active as it’s now, so I want to see the difference this time.
“For me, all the tournaments are like practice because I don’t have a high-quality sparring partner, so if I get a good opponent, and if I can get something from my game, that’s a good thing!
“I’m not afraid to lose.”
