By Henry Chen 

“Fan Zhendong and Zhou Yu defeated Xue Fei and Zhao Daming of Hubei in the final round. They are this year’s Chinese National Men’s Doubles champions. Congratulations to the two handsome army boys!” Li Wujun reported in his Weibo.

The 2016 Chinese National Championships was in its eighth day of competition yesterday, September 27 and the Doubles event had its conclusion.

The pair from People’s Liberation Army (PLA), Fan Zhendong and Zhou Yu were crowned as the Men’s Doubles champion. They first swept their way through the semifinals and fought in six games in the final round. They defeated Hubei’s Xue Fei and Zhao Daming in 11-5, 11-9, 5-11, 11-5, 9-11, 11-9 for the final victory.

Fan Zhendong and the rest of the PLA Team were not very successful in the Team competition held last weekend. However, this time, both Fan Zhendong and Zhou Yu were doing well in the individual events as of yesterday.

Following Xu Xin’s retirement from the competition, the 19-year old player Fan Zhendong became a much clearer favourite to win the championship title in the Men’s Singles. At the same time, Zhou Yu is considered to be his strongest opponent.

Yesterday, Fan Zhendong defeated Yan An of the Beijing Team in 12-14, 11-6, 11-9, 11-5, 11-7. He will then face Shanghai’s Shang Kun in the semifinals. Meanwhile, in the lower half of the draw, the seat in the final round will be contested by Zheng Peifeng of Fujian and Zhou Yu of PLA.

Zheng Peifeng bravely overcame Shandong’s Fang Bo in 12-10, 11-8, 4-11, 6-11, 11-4, 11-13, 11-8.

The teenage sensation of the Chinese National Team, Fan Zhendong, will have a very occupied schedule of competition these days. After the Domestic scene, Fan is scheduled to appear in this weekend’s highly anticipated Men’s World Cup to be held in Saarbrücken, Germany.