Alumna Jia Yifan Wins Olympic Gold

Edited byWang Chengqi

Translated by Li Wenqiang, Huang Can

Source: CCTV News

On the evening of August 3(Beijing time), in thewomen’s doubles final of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games badminton competition, Xiangtan University alumna Jia Yifan and her partner Chen Qingchen defeated another Chinese pair Liu ShengshuandTan Ning with a score of 2-0 to win the gold medal. Thiswas the 15th gold medal won by the Chinese delegation at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The Fan-Chen Pair(Jia Yifan and Chen Qingchen Pair)has now achieved a career Super Grand Slam, holding Olympic gold, Asian Games gold, World Championships gold, BWF World Tour Finals gold, Sudirman Cup gold, and Uber Cup gold titles.

Jia Yifan, a postgraduate student in administrative management enrolled at Xiangtan University in 2019, is an International-Class Athlete and an active member of the Chinese national badminton team in women’s doubles. She has wonmultipleinternational championships with her partner Chen Qingchen, including the 2017 World Championships women’s doubles title, the 2018 Asian Games women’s doubles title, the 2019 Sudirman Cup World Mixed Team Badminton Championships with her teammates, the silver medal in women’s doubles at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, the 2021 Uber Cup Badminton women’s Team Championship, the 2022 BWF World Tour Finals women’s doubles title, and the 2023 Uber Cup Badminton women’s Team Championship.

At this Olympic Games, Jia and Chen displayed dominant form throughout their run to the gold medal.

On the first day of the women’s doubles group stage on July 27, Jia Yifan and Chen Qingchen faced Malaysia’s Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan, securing a 2-0 victory to get their group stage campaign off to a winning start. On July 28, they took on Indonesia’s Apriyani Rahayu and Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti, and with seamless cooperation, the pair claimed their second consecutive 2-0 win in the group stage, locking up a spot in the quarterfinals ahead of schedule. In the final match of the women’s doubles group stage on July 30, the Fan-Chen Paircontinued their dominant form, defeating Japan’s Wakana Nagahara and Mayu Matsumoto 2-0 to advance to the women’s doubles quarterfinals. In the women’s doubles quarterfinals on August 1, the Fan-Chen Pair beat Bulgaria’s Stoeva sisters with a 2-0 score to advance to the semifinals. On August 2, in the badminton women’s doubles semifinal, they defeated the Malaysian pair Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan with a 2-1 score to secure a spot in the final.

On August 3, in thewomen’s doubles final, Jia Yifan and Chen Qingchen won the gold medal with a 2-0 victory.

In recent years, a number of outstanding Xiangtan University students have won gold and silver medals in the world’s top badminton competitions,bringing honor to the country and glory to the university.

In 2011, approved by the Ministry of Education of China through evaluation, Xiangtan University became the only institution of higher education in Hunan Province authorized to recruit high-level badminton athletes. On December 24, 2014, the university signed an agreement with the Hunan Provincial Sports Bureau to jointly build a high-level badminton team. The university gives full play to its unique advantages in educational resources and talent training, formulates personalized talent development plans for athletes, provides them with high-quality professional education and quality-oriented education, and expands their development prospects.

To date,Xiangtanuniversity has cultivated a large number of outstanding athletes, including Bao Chunlai, Chai Biao, Zhang Sheng, Bao Yixin, Xia Huan, Zhang Wen, Zhou Zeqi, Zeng Xi, Tan Zhendong, Lin Yuanrui, and Jia Yifan.