Toast of the hosts: China’s He Bingjiao (third from left) is hugged by teammates after beating Indonesia’s Ester Nurumi in the second singles to deliver the winning point in their 3-0 win in the Uber Cup final.
CHENGDU: From tears to cheers for shuttler He Bingjiao.
Bingjiao was left in tears after failing to save the tie for China against South Korea in the final of the women’s team event in the Hangzhou Asian Games last October.
Fast forward seven months and Bingjiao was celebrating this time with her teammates after delivering the winning point against Indonesia in the final of the Uber Cup Finals at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center in Chengdu yesterday.
The world No. 6 was pushed hard by 19-year-old Ester Nurumi in the second singles before prevailing 10-21, 21-15, 21-17 in 69 minutes.
Earlier, reigning Olympic champion Chen Yufei gave the home favourites a good start by beating world No. 9 Gregoria Mariska 21-7, 21-16 in the first singles.
World No. 1 Chen Qingchen-Jia Yifan then put their team in the driving seat with a commanding 21-11, 21-8 victory over scratch pair Siti Fadia Ramadhanti-Ribka Sugiarto.
It was relief for Bingjiao after she lost to South Korea’s Kim Ga-eun in China’s 0-3 defeat at the hands of Korea in the Asiad team final.
“I wanted to do better here after losing to Ga-eun in the Asiad final,” said Bingjiao.
“My team lost because of my defeat that time, so I’m really happy to help my team win this time.
“It was a tough match for me today (yesterday) and although my team were leading 2-0, I was still nervous.
“Ester played well but thankfully, I managed to control the situation better in the second and third games to get the win,” added Bingjiao.
It was China’s 16th title in the prestigious team meet and they have regained the crown that they won in the 2020 edition in Aarhus, Denmark.
The team had to settle for silver in 2022 after they went down 2-3 to South Korea in Bangkok.
