Looking to smash it

Chasing history

In women's singles, reigning Olympic champion Chen Yufei is bidding to write her name into history, as she aims to become just the second woman of all time to retain her Olympic gold, following in the footsteps of Hall of Famer Zhang Ning, who achieved the feat in 2004 and 2008.

South Korea's world and Asian Games champion An is the biggest threat to Chen's ambition.

World No 3 Tai Tzu-ying of Chinese Taipei, Japan's two-time world champion Akane Yamaguchi and Spanish veteran Caroline Marin, the first and only non-Asian Olympic women's singles champion (Rio 2016), are all legitimate medal contenders as well, each coveting Chen's title.

"To stay healthy and control the little errors in training and competition. That's my priority leading up to Paris. As long as I take care of myself and deliver my best, I am confident that I still have a good chance to defend my title," Chen said last month after helping Team China lift a record-extending 16th Uber Cup title in Chengdu.

"This process will be very difficult for sure," said Chen, who just posted consecutive wins against Marin and An to clinch her 17th career title on the BWF tour at the Indonesia Open earlier this month.

"It's about taking things one step at a time, and handling every detail in the process as I strive to achieve this goal."

In doubles, China's world No 1 mixed pair Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong will try to make up for the only missing trophy in their glittering cabinet — an Olympic gold medal.

Women's doubles queens Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan are also heading to Paris on a redemption mission, as the four-time world champion duo looks to cap what might be their final Olympics in gold. They will need to put their surprising defeat to Indonesia's Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu in the final at Tokyo 2020 behind them to do so.

The men's doubles in Paris will see perhaps the most open medal fight among all five events, with China's young pair Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang, both born in the early 2000s, challenging an experienced field of opponents from South Korea, India, Malaysia and Denmark.

The badminton tournament takes place from July 27 to Aug 5 at the Porte de La Chapelle Arena, involving 172 athletes.

sunxiaochen@chinadaily.com.cn