Fu Haifeng announces retirement…again

Two-time Olympic men’s doubles gold medallist Fu Haifeng was playing his last match of international badminton when he won the opening match in the final of the 2017 Sudirman Cup.

So it was announced after Fu and Zhang Nan got China off to a 1-0 lead in the tie by beating Koreans Choi Sol Gyu and Seo Seung Jae.  The announcement went over the public address system in the Gold Coast Sports & Leisure Centre and Fu confirmed it in the post-match press conference.  Sohu Sports reported that Fu confirmed the final in Australia was to be his last international match but following the Sudirman Cup, he will begin preparing for the China National Games in Tianjin in September.

Fu Haifeng’s retirement was already announced in the Chinese press last October, when it was said he intended to call it quits following the Superseries Finals in Dubai, for which he and Zhang Nan had automatically qualified as Olympic champions.  The pair did not compete, however, but Fu made one appearance this year with teenaged mixed doubles sensation Zheng Siwei, when they reached the final of the Malaysia Open Superseries Premier. Fu and Zhang then competed at the Badminton Asia Championships in Wuhan, followed by their three matches this week in Gold Coast.

Fu Haifeng leaves the international game not only with two Olympic golds but also four World Championship titles, one Asian title, 16 Superseries titles, 2 Grand Prix Gold, plus another 7 major tournaments before they were re-classified as Superseries and Grand Prix.  He also collaborated on China’s six straight Sudirman Cup wins – from 2005 through 2015 – on the nation’s five straight Thomas Cup wins, and on the Asian Games men’s team golds in 2006 and 2010.

Photo:  Luis Veniegra / Badmintonphoto (live from the Sudirman Cup final in Gold Coast)