Meet the Men’s Singles Contenders
With the long-awaited TotalEnergies BWF World Championships gold and three HSBC BWF World Tour Super 1000 titles, this was Shi Yu Qi’s year. As he heads to Hangzhou to defend his title, the world No.1 will look to…
· BWF STAFF
With the long-awaited TotalEnergies BWF World Championships gold and three HSBC BWF World Tour Super 1000 titles, this was Shi Yu Qi’s year. As he heads to Hangzhou to defend his title, the world No.1 will look to put the finishing touches on an astonishing season that saw him finally address the one lacuna in his career – the absence of a major individual title.
Yet, despite his rich haul, men’s singles is open. There is Anders Antonsen, who was consistent through the year, appearing in five finals; Jonatan Christie, who struck a rich vein of form in the second half of the year with three titles in four events; and Kunlavut Vitidsarn, who won three back-to-back titles midway through the season.
Then there are other world-beaters like Li Shi Feng, the ageless Chou Tien Chen, the constantly improving Christo Popov and Kodai Naraoka. All in all, a week of close contents is set to unfold.