(Reuters) – Paris 2024 Olympics mixed doubles champion Huang Yaqiong has quit China’s national badminton team due to a growing toll of injuries, the 30-year-old said.
Huang and Zheng Siwei beat South Korea’s Kim Won-ho and Jeong Na-eun 21-8 21-11 to win gold at the Olympics in August.
Huang, who also won silver with Zheng at the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics, got engaged to fellow Chinese Tokyo silver medallist Liu Yuchen minutes after her mixed doubles victory in Paris.
“I would like to announce that I have decided to withdraw from the national team… When I was preparing 2024 Paris Olympics, I deemed it as my last Olympic Games,” Huang posted on Instagram on Wednesday.
“I have once said that if I continue competing on international tournaments, I need to do my best to fight for achievements. Nevertheless, I have faced many injuries and grown older, I do not have enough confidence to withstand my ability to win glory for my country.”
Huang is a three-times mixed doubles world champion, having won gold at 2018 Nanjing, 2019 Basel and 2022 Tokyo BWF World Championships.
“I am looking forward to my new life and most importantly, I will still contribute to my beloved badminton… It’s the time to say goodbye and we will meet again in the future,” she added.
(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru; Editing by Kate Mayberry)
