Life is full of contrasts, night and day, summer and winter, love and hate. But in life it’s rare to either see or experience those contrasts at the same time.
One reason why we’re so fascinated by sport is because the stark contrasts, such as victory and defeat, favourites and underdogs, delight and disappointment, are all continually exposed simultaneously.
The recent #ChinaMasters2026 highlighted the current huge contrast between the two singles disciplines. In the women’s singles (WS) the reigning world and #Olympic champion An Se Young was the overwhelming favourite. And in winning her 3rd consecutive title in Shenzhen she secured her 16th career Super 750 title, and her 8th from the last 10 Super 750 #WorldTour (WT) events since the start of 2025.
In contrast in the men’s singles (MS) Jason Gunawan was the first reserve on the original entry list and therefore had to rely on a withdrawal before he became eligible for the MS draw. It was his first appearance at a 750 event and therefore he was very much an underdog. Yet he defeated the current WR1, the defending champion and the winner from 2 years ago on his way to winning the title.
Gunawan’s win meant he became the 10th different MS player to win at the 10th Super 750 event since the beginning of 2025.
Statistics which emphasise the current contrasting dominance in WS against the unpredictability in MS.
However, it would be wrong to interpret dominance and unpredictability as boring against exciting. Very few #badminton fans would describe the Lin Dan, Lee Chong Wei, Viktor Axelson, Susi Susanti or Tai Tzu Ying eras as boring when they each dominated the sport. To the contrary, we loved watching them play and now miss them terribly.
Sport is about the pursuit of excellence. We love watching the best of the best. Yet we also love the unpredictability of sport.
The 2 singles disciplines currently give us the best of both worlds. The joy of watching An Se Young’s glorious excellence, and the unpredictability of MS where an unheralded underdog can win a major WT title at his first attempt.
But that’s the beauty of sport, some contrasts can be enjoyed in equal measure.
📷 @badmintonphoto
K.M. Boopathy, I feel more embarrassed reading your unprofessional words to a player who are trying to pick up bits by bits. You are such an unprofessional journalist rather than supporting your local player. You should learn to write professional words.
Just spend 80% time & resources on
Bahasa Melayu
Bahasa English
Matematik
Sains
Sejarah
The rest are electives (20%), optional, parents' responsibility.
kat malaysia ni bersepah je golongan elit dan jutawan yang menindas marhaen, memijak pekerja, zalim pada orang bawahan
and y’all wanna beef with khairul aming? malaysians never have the right energy for the right people. loser mentality.
@GBPolitcs 🤣😂🤣 This is a joke right? He surely can't be demanding money? Oh goodness the entire weekend of real progress is down the pan thanks to grifting. It must be a joke?